With its vibrant, kitsch street art, European-style cafe-society ambience and urban street vibe, City Walk instantly struck fashion retail guru Jane Shepherdson as the perfect location for Whistles’ latest foray into the Middle East.
While many of the massive, labyrinthine malls feel like an expedition to be navigated with the help of a map, City Walk has the kind of environment that, she says, “makes you just want to pop in, maybe get a coffee and buy something [to wear] for the weekend”.
Dubai is renowned for its wealth of luxury brands and high-street offerings. However, Shepherdson noticed during a visit last summer that there was not much authentic, contemporary fashion which, she says, “as a customer, is what I spend my money on”.
It is also is an area in which she is an expert, having spent the years since 2008 reinventing Whistles as a modern go-to brand for the fashion-aware with a taste for laid-back style. If you like Céline, then you will like Whistles. Shepherdson and her team worked on the range for the Dubai store for some time, she says, and carefully assembled looks suitable “for the climate and the level of sophistication of Dubai customers”.
There are exclusive party dresses, including an elegant yellow gown with a sash back, a blush-pink maxi dress with laser-cut detailing and printed maxi dresses.
“They are pieces that I really hope epitomise the Whistles aesthetic with an effortless, desirable luxury,” Shepherdson says.
The brand’s accessible take on what is modern has won it legions of fans, including fashion purists – and even the Duchess of Cambridge.
“She has made it acceptable for someone like her – someone who is a princess, after all – to shop on the high street,” Shepherdson once said.
Whistles had already dipped its toes into Dubai waters, testing the market with limited ranges at Harvey Nichols and Bloomingdale’s, and there was an obvious appetite for its spin on fashion.
Middle Eastern customers, says Shepherdson, also make up a large proportion of clients at her London and Paris boutiques. There has also been a growth in online business.
The brand is available in 100 stores internationally, but the Dubai store is one of Whistles’ first solo ventures outside the United Kingdom, part of a plan to expand across the region with local partner Al Tayer.
“It took us a while to find someone who really understood what our brand is about, and they do,” says Shepherdson who, together with her management team, owns 30 per cent of Whistles.
She honed her skills during 20 years at Topshop, where she rose through the ranks to become brand director before stunning the retail world in 2007 by walking out on billionaire owner Philip Green. Rumours at the time suggested she fell out with him over the appointment of Kate Moss as a designer, but she refuses to discuss her former boss, who is embroiled in investigations surrounding the collapse of high-street chain BHS, which was once part of his retail empire.
Shepherdson has a clear vision for her business. She transformed Topshop from a tacky Oxford Street store for teenagers into an international fashion destination and, in so doing, reinvented British high-street fashion.
Having ticked that box, she has set about transforming the contemporary middle market, which was a fledgling sector in 2008, but is now bristling with successful brands. It is important, therefore, that Whistles stays relevant and innovative.
Shepherdson targets her audience with contemporary well-designed clothes for confident, fashionable women who lead busy lives. “The clothes have a timelessness that allows you to put them in your wardrobe and continue to rely on them, as well as a lot of fashionability that demonstrates you are well aware of what the trends are,” she says.
Her typical customer, she says, “wants to look stylish, but not look like she has tried too hard”.
She believes overseas customers like British fashion because it is not predictable.
“It’s a little bit experimental and can be slightly quirky,” she says. “It’s not always sexy. Fashion from some countries tends to be overtly sexy, but I don’t think ours is. It’s slightly different: it has a bit of personality, which helps you express yourself.”
She believes it is important for women to keep experimenting with the way they dress, to give them confidence.
“You will keep feeling relevant and modern and that’s really important, particularly for women”, she says.
• Whistles is on Dubai’s City Walk. Open from 10pm to 10pm. For more details, call 04 342 7873 or visit www.whistles.com
artslife@thenational.ae