London Study Abroad
Auburn offers amazing opportunities for Apparel Merchandising and Design students. I was fortunate enough to go during Spring Break 2018 to go to London for an entire week on a Fashion Tour. I received three credit hours for participating it really was a once and a life time opportunity.
Covent Garden
Covent Garden located in London's West End is the first neighborhood we explored. The main market is the biggest attraction in the center square. We went to Fortnum & Mason to pick up some tea. This area is definitely the young hip place! Street performers are common and the Royal Opera house is always putting on shows!
Day 1
The first day we went on a Fashion District Walking Tour. We visited men's shirtmaker's and hats and toured the amazing Department Store Selfridges. The stores we visited were Hilditch and Key a men's hat and shirtmaker, Grosvenor a men's shirtmaker, and Sophie Hulme pop-up shop a women's handbag designer. Later we had a tour of Selfridges and enjoyed lunch in the cafeteria. Afterwards we took the train to Hendon to Angels, Les Costumiers. This is the biggest costume producer in the world and they have done many Oscar award winning movies such as Gatsby. Their warehouse is ten miles long filled with props and costumes.
Day 2
Camden Town
The first night we saw the show Kinky Boots!
Camden Town is a very hip artistic area it is most famous for its outdoor market.
Day 3
Tea at Harrods is a must do! You do not need to eat lunch before like we did they bring you tons of food!
Day two we had the morning free and decided to have breakfast at Coffee and Chairs a little cafe by our hotel. After we road the tube to Camden Market. Later that day we were lucky to have a tour of Harrods from the ex-concierge and afterwards had tea at the Georgian Restaurant.
Alexander McQueen 2010
Day three we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Textile Forum. We also found the Abbey House in Marylebone!
Day 4
To start off day four we had a tour of the famous Westminster Abbey and then headed back to Harrods to shop. We had lunch at a little Italian bistro called Pontis Italian Kitchen. After lunch we went to the London College of Fashion where a professor, Laura Lightbody taught the Fashion Media Styling class. Laura was a celebrity stylist for eight years and had clients such as Beyonce, Fergi, Cindy Lauper, Rihanna and the Black Eyed Peas. It was very interesting to hear her story about how she began her career and hear about the various concerts, music videos and other events she styled her clients for.
Day 5
Day five we visited Kensington Palace and saw some of the historical clothing that they preserve. They had a pair of Queen Victoria's shoes and other pieces that were worn by past royals. We then saw the Princess Diana exhibit in Kensington. It was really spectacular they had many of her elaborate, elegant dresses that she wore. Afterwards we made our way over to Selfridges and Top Shop. I think we spent almost three hours in Top Shop it was amazing there was a cafe, a place to get your hair and makeup done etc. Finally we made the decision to leave and decided to go to Brick Lane. We met up with one of the girls friends who was in London studying abroad. She took us to the Nomadic Community Gardens in Brick Lane. It was beautiful, artists were making sculptures and painting.
A dress from the 1980's
Day 6
The last day was one of my favorite days! We had a walking tour of Brick Lane and visited the vintage Blitz Store and Miista, handmade shoes from Spain. We also saw the Nike Lab 1948 and the Brick Lane Vintage Market. I came back later and bought a leather jacket. We went to the Old Spitalfields Market for lunch and shopped a little. Later for a snack we had to go try the famous Cereal Killer Cafe. All of the stores in Brick Lane are vintage and trendy it was one of my favorite places we went in London. That night the whole group met at The Goose for dinner, a little pub by our hotel.
We tried the famous Cereal Killer Cafe! It was a little interesting but suprisingly good. This is a Bloody Marry with Cheereos on top!
