Dover Street Market London

If I’m being honest, exploring DSML’s new Haymarket location was a spiritual experience for me. I know, I know, that’s literally so dumb, but hear me out. After finishing my sophomore year at a new school in Dallas, I’ve come to learn that conformity is, well, to be conformed to. Every walk to class had me lost in a sea of Bandier, Hermès links, and LV Neverfulls, and while I adapted these trends to my own style (Yeezy sweatshirts, monogrammed Goyard), I too began fitting a cookie cutter mold. What I wrote off as excitement around being in a community where people cared about the same things I did (namely, fashion) was actually me just losing my sense of self-style. I completely missed the obvious: many of the people at SMU don’t care about fashion or originality, they care about flaunting money and/or fitting in. And, honestly, you’ll find yourself somehow more respected for having a classic flap-bag with those shiny overlapped C’s than you would rocking anything with creative genius attached (hi, Alessandro!). But as I started to feel more and more lost, I started to recognize how much of that was my own fault; it was me, after all, wearing black suede thigh-highs and distressed band tees as dresses, not in an attempt to represent my own style, but more so to be provocative in a sea of ripped black jeans, rock stud shoes, and simplistic shirts from Planet Blue or LF (editor’s note: I’m actually a huge fan of both of these stores, but much of their stuff is designed and marketed towards the herds of girls attempting to fulfill a specific edgy-without-being-edgy look at SMU, with their Dallas locations to show for it).

So when I walked through the side street entrance to DSM’s new Haymarket location, I was immediately struck by and reminded of the fact that fashion is, first and foremost, art. Obviously the architecture and displays (favorites below) were striking, but it was so much more about the other people there. The eccentric kid with crazy hair, riffling through a streetwear display with the keen focus of a curator looking for his next masterpiece; the staff, who all represented very different styles but all came together under one, huge roof to inspire and be inspired; the middle-aged style icon sitting on the floor of the Rei Kawakubo installation surrounded by boxes and boxes of shoes; and me, who LITERALLY almost fainted when I stumbled upon the Vetements and Rick Owens displays (lol lame!).

Amongst all of this, I started realizing the exact trap I had fallen into in the past year. Pretty can be boring, you’ll only be comfortable in your own skin when you embrace yourself, etc. etc. etc. But in all seriousness, I really did go through some weird, inspired spiritual journey as I traveled through the five stories of perfectly curated and designed spaces that articulated the individuality of each brand, and yet somehow allowed them all to complement one another.

In effort to capture this feeling, I invested in the SICKEST Comme Des Garçons Hommes Plus x Fornasetti DSML exclusive shirt, even though for the rest of the day I genuinely thought my mother was going to behead me for spending £190 on a t-shirt. But, honestly, so worth it, because here I am, two weeks later, still holding on to that shirt and the feeling that accompanied it as I finally write this post. And not to mention, while I was checking out I had a dope conversation about how pathetic most guests’ looks were at the MET Gala this year, because everyone (save a few, especially RiRi) went for the simple sexiness that the likes of Kendall and Bella have made so famous (but, shoutout to Hailey Baldwin for at least playing with silhouettes in a way that was reminiscent of Rei Kawakubo’s legacy). Maybe it was the common consensus of beliefs such as this one that made me feel so at home here, and had me running through crazy scenarios like dropping out of SMU entirely, moving to London, and working at DSM.

Comme des Garçons Homme Plus x Fornasetti Display