Jigsaw’s Duke Street Emporium- a great grown up store to shop

Jigsaw has opened a really lovely new store near Selfridges, on Duke Street, just far enough off Oxford Street to have that calmer, more boutique-y vibe that’s more preferable to shop.

We’ve been quite excited about Jigsaw getting a revamp, the new store lets the spring collection shine and there were many tempting styles to linger over. I was really taken with the tiny polka dot navy jacket, £149 and trousers, £85, seen above, styled with a crisp over sized poplin shirt, £98,  and navy skate shoes, £59. My photo isn’t quite doing it justice, it really is an elegant take on casual style. The store is easy to shop, spacious and well laid out with interesting industrial-finish walls, covetable feature lights and mid century cupboards and tables that you’d quite like in your own home acting as fixtures (is there ANY mid century furniture left out there to buy?).

It’s very easy to wonder around as there’s plenty of space, and the main hanging fixtures are quite pared back so you can really see the clothes. It’s not chock-a-block with stock either, so it’s enjoyable to shop the rails. Clothes are mixed up with beauty products from Aesop and other nice brands, books and a scattering of art pieces. It’s what we professional shop watchers like to call lifestyle merchandising. And of course there’s a coffee shop, from the uber-cool (but quite expensive) Fernandez & Wells, I had a freshly squeezed blood orange juice while people watching on the pavement terrace, and it was delicious.

The brand want the store to be a shopping kick-off point, somewhere you’d meet your girlfriends before you go off for a day’s shopping, somewhere you might hang out and have fun rather than just browse the rails. I was really impressed with how good the clothes looked, a great balance between modern-casual and grown up. Look out for the excellent silk/jersey fabric combo T shirts (almost nicer than the Zara ones we mentioned) a lovely indigo washed leather jacket and some great simple stripe jersey tops.

And good news for fans of the Shop At Bluebird -the designer store Jigsaw owns on The King’s Road- as there’s an outpost of it here, stocking brands such as Rosanna and Maison Kitsune, it even has those nice raincoats from Stutterheim we keep banging on about. See what I mean about the mid-century furniture? I’d quite like to buy some of it…. So if you are needing a good central meeting place for friends, this could be it. Bet you end up trying something on too.

Duke Street Emporium, 55 Duke Street, W1K 5NR