SPECIAL STREET: Regent Street, home to global brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Brooks Bros. and Timberland, is celebrating 180 years of shopping with an exhibition that runs until June 30. "A Mile of Style," at London's Guildhall Art Gallery, is showcasing vintage items ranging from Twiggy dolls, to Aquascutum coats, to a Jaeger wool jersey nightdress with a lace collar from the days when the street was dominated by British names.
Curator Georgia Vossou, a conservator for the City of Westminster Archives Centre, said the idea for the show dawned on her — appropriately — during a shopping spree. "I was playing with this idea of creating an exhibition so I could make the history of Regent Street more accessible," she said. With the help of Vivien Knight, curator at the Guildhall Art Gallery, she worked on the project for a year.
The show traces the architectural history of the street, and the shops that have come and gone — such as a barbershop called the Taj Mahal. Long-standing Regent Street stores Jaeger, Aquascutum, Austin Reed and Hamleys donated a big chunk of their own archives to the show. Regent Street was the brainchild of the Prince Regent, later King George IV, and designed by the 19th-century architect John Nash. It wasn't long before the street's name became synonymous with upscale fashion and sophistication. The street is undergoing a $1 billion development program led by The Crown Estate.
Curator Georgia Vossou, a conservator for the City of Westminster Archives Centre, said the idea for the show dawned on her — appropriately — during a shopping spree. "I was playing with this idea of creating an exhibition so I could make the history of Regent Street more accessible," she said. With the help of Vivien Knight, curator at the Guildhall Art Gallery, she worked on the project for a year.
The show traces the architectural history of the street, and the shops that have come and gone — such as a barbershop called the Taj Mahal. Long-standing Regent Street stores Jaeger, Aquascutum, Austin Reed and Hamleys donated a big chunk of their own archives to the show. Regent Street was the brainchild of the Prince Regent, later King George IV, and designed by the 19th-century architect John Nash. It wasn't long before the street's name became synonymous with upscale fashion and sophistication. The street is undergoing a $1 billion development program led by The Crown Estate.
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