Having heard of Colette for absolutely ages, naturally we had to make a bee-line here and check out the what was happening. While this place is buzzing with a fabulous club-like atmosphere albeit it in virtually florescent lit atmosphere, the crowd here spent an awful lot of time checking each other out rather than the merchandise. It appears to be the place to want to be seen rather than shop and with vulgar merchandise priced that of a small mortgage, we'd rather not part with our Euro. Obscure magazines line some fixtures next to apparently cool jewellery, t-shirts and so on, names of which you feel that you should know but don't. And this is the crux of it. Emperor's new clothes sprung to our minds in this scenario with a lot of surface gloss and little substance filled with the crowd that want to be part of something cool but don't seem to know what. This place is jammed to the rafters with 'the crowd' not the merchandise. Of course, its a pleasure to see less merchandise, but better merchandise would have been appreciated. We wouldn't personally have put Topshop make-up next to the incredibly cool product that we've seen many times in NYC, La Labo - pretty criminal actually, placed in an area which appears to be an after thought in a lower mezzanine. Still, the tourists love it and I guess what Colette says, goes, although from what we've heard, little has changed in three years, so hardly cutting edge? The store looks great from the outside and has a wonderful reputation, but if you want something with a bit more depth, then just go and look from the outside and keep walking.
