"I didn’t want to be guided by price brackets or target markets, I just wanted to collect a selection of clothes that felt relevant and desirable right now, and to create a beautiful light-filled space where people want to be, myself included. I didn’t know if I was being incredibly naïve but I thought if I made a space that I liked being in, then other people would like it too".
Jane Jasper, owner of Lands End Store
With the exception of liberty, of course, I am a big fan of the boutique store. Department stores are big and bold and are all good and well for things that are similarly big and bold, but if you want to find something personal, charming and wholly unique you have to go to a boutique store. It's there that you'll find a mix of known labels and hand-sourced others that opens your eyes to a whole new you.
Of course, I'm not just talking about any boutique store here. After all, not all boutique stores are made equal. Some are more equal than others, and one of those is Jane Jasper's Lands End at 205 Glenmore Road, Paddington. A whitewashed terrace building with a bright blue door that houses all kinds of fashion magic - from the intense utility of Balmain to the painfully hip Proenza Schouler to the sweet scents of Penhaligons and right back again to colour and light from Kenya's Suno.
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I love Lands End. Like really, really love it. I didn't always, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt and it won me over with the quirkiness of Jasper's edit and the charm of the store, and now i'm there almost daily (I must seem like the biggest freak to the SAs!). It's not another boutique for the rich and famous. Sure, you need to be the type of private-jet owning maverick to afford Balmain, but who cares about that when you could buy Richard Nicoll's slick creations or a slice of Downtown cool from Opening Ceremony? And they do a fabulous sale every season with a continuing sale rack with some of the previous seasons clothes (incredible pieces from meadham kirchoff, thakoon and dion lee were hanging on that rack last time i looked) with bargains galore. Needless to say I shop from that sale rack, but i still delight in checking out the rainbow of proenza schouler ps1's Jasper has in one corner of the store, or the incredible assad mounser jewelry in another.
If you love clothes then it goes without saying that you also like shopping. Net-a-porter is all good and well, but there is nothing, nothing at all like the thrill of shopping in a real store for beautiful things that you love - be it preen or portmans. For the shopping experience to be that great it has to be in a store that not only carries the stuff of dreams, but looks and is amazing too. Sales Assistants who are helpful and interested, decor that contributes to the ethos of the store. Lands End wins on all accounts. Not only does it have fashion credibility like none other, it throws in a beautiful location and atmosphere to the mix. I'm biased of course, but Paddington (And 5 ways in particular) is a really beautiful part of Sydney. Lands End is far enough removed from Oxford St to be relaxed, but not too far to make it a destination store. And kitted out with a scene stealing mirror, white washed floorboards, vases of brightly coloured flowers and a big squishy armchair it looks like any old terrace house - but better, because this one has proenza schouler.
1. the owner jane jasper with richard nicoll, her long time friend
2. interior lands end
3. lands end windows! what I see everyday as I walk to the bus stop, and must resist temptation.
source: richard nicoll's blog for vogue uk
Lands End is the type of store that you just want to be in, all the time. For Jane Jasper that means sales, sales, sales. But for shoppers like me, it means that you might just have found the perfect store. And that's better than any kind of profit margin.
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