Dover Street Market is a retailer that mainly sells high fashion products, but also features items from more urban, streetwear brands. The concept of Dover Street Market was largely based upon the Kensington Market that was the fashion hub for Britain for over 40 years. Taking from Kensington Market, Rei Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe sought to create a store that aimed to be a stockist for their own brand, Comme des Garçons, as well as other brands and designers that they saw fit to curate their store with. The aesthetic direction that Rei Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe was a very unorthodox approach compared to how usual high department stores looked like. With their particular direction in mind, Dover Street Market over the years has collaborated with the Frieze Art Fair, the Michael Hoppen Gallery, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts to showcase work throughout the store. When asked to describe her store, "Beautiful chaos", is how once Rei Kawakubo characterized Dover Street Market.
Collaboration
Dover Street Market has worked on a wide variety of collaborations from various streetwear and high fashion brands. Many collaborations are in celebration of milestones or to commemorate the opening of a new Dover Street Market store. Frequent collaborators include Commes des Garçons, Gucci, Nike, Palace, and Stüssy.
15th Anniversary "MONOCHROMARKET" Capsule
On 29 November 2019 Dover Street Market's largest collaboration to date was released. The multi-brand capsule titled MONOCHROMARKET had various pieces consisting of clothes, accessories, jewelry, and accessories. Each of the pieces from the collaboration share a monochromatic motif to go with the overall theme of the capsule. The collaboration was split into two releases with the first one releasing online and then later a physical release at their London location. Of the 60 brands partaking in the collaboration, some of the more notable ones consist of A Bathing Ape, Anti Social Social Club, Bottega Veneta, Comme des Garçons, Kaws, Lacoste, Nike, Palace, sacai, Stüssy, The North Face, Undercover, and Vans.
History
The first Dover Street Market opened on 10 September 2004 on 17–18 Dover Street, in Mayfair, London. In March 2016 the original store relocated to the former Burberry building on Haymarket. The original Dover Street Market used to be home of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in May 1950. The London store was ranked by Complex as the #2 best store in the world in 2013.
Locations
Locations outside London include:
Dover Street Market Ginza opened in 2012 in Tokyo.
Dover Street Market Singapore in a former British Army barracks on Dempsey Hill, opened in July 2017. It is the only ground-floor only location, and has a 12,325 square-feet landscape.
Dover Street Market Beijing, turned into a Dover Street Market in February 2018, previously a joint venture of I.T and Dover Street Market called I.T Beijing Market.
Dover Street Market Los Angeles opened fall 2018 in the Arts District.
Dover Street Parfums Market opened in October 2019 in Paris, Just a few minutes walk away from the Musée Picasso. Dover Street Parums Market is the first location to only exclusively sell beauty and cosmetic products.
The London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, and New York stores all have a Rose Bakery café, created by Rose Carrarini and her husband Jean Charles.
