1:34 PM
Issue 8 of The Rake is now out, for subscribers out there, those living in Hong Kong or Singapore, or anyone within dashing distance of Lodger in London. Below is my contribution, on Harrod's personal shopping service.
Very personal shopping
Clients of Harrod’s By Appointment sign up for the clothes, but they stay for the restaurant bookings
By Simon Crompton
I don’t envy personal shoppers. They need to impress a client immediately with their choices – perhaps by how the clothes feel, but more likely by how others react. If the wife hates them, or friends laugh at him, they’re a failure.
Apparently one of the most common requests from men that use the Harrod’s By Appointment service is something to go out in – that looks cool, that’s popular with the ladies. It’s hard to think of a sterner test for a new velvet jacket and dress shirt.
“Everything rests on establishing trust,” says Ipek Timurkan, one of the nine personal shoppers at Harrod’s and my guide for today’s 75-minute session. “Once you’ve picked something out and it goes down well, they begin to trust you. Then you can convince them to try something a little different. It takes time and it’s a gradual process, but establishing it is key to a service like this.”
At least it’s easier with men. Women tend to be much more inflexible, convinced they know what suits them and less willing to experiment, says Timurkan. Men are less interested in fashion and keen to make shopping as efficient as possible. So the key skill for a men’s personal shopper is knowledge of Harrod’s cavernous seven floors, and the ability to condense them into a few racks of clothes.
Men are also loyal, which makes things easier. Once they know that one brand fits them well, they will stick with it. But this does mean some men want to buy exactly the same thing, year after year. “Someone might come in with a jacket that’s 10-years old and say ‘can I buy this again?’ The short answer is no, no you can’t,” says Ola Wright, press officer for By Appointment. “If you’re not careful it can become an endless quest to find a jacket that is, necessarily, never going to be the same.”
Again, it’s a question of trust. A middle-aged man must have faith in his shopper to update his look, to give him clothes that will feel the same but look fresher, better.
Apparently the trickiest item to find a man is a shirt. Perhaps because it sits next to the skin, perhaps because fit is so crucial, men are fussiest about shirts. This is demonstrated during my appointment, when I try on several dress shirts. The Brioni is fine but a little bulky in the waist. The Dolce & Gabbana is skin tight, with buttons bulging at the chest. Both are a 15-inch neck. “You need to know every item in every brand really,” says Timurkan. “It’s possible to generalise – the designer names will always be skinnier than the traditional Italian names. But fit can still vary a lot even within a collection.”
That’s proved by the two sweaters I try next. The cream cable-knit cardigan from Dunhill is rounded in the body, expansive at the waist before cinching in quickly at the hips. But the Loro Piana zip-up, cashmere lined with beaver, is snug everywhere. Close, warm, cozy, reassuring; I didn’t want to take it off, basically. Same applies to jackets – Armani is straight up-and-down, even boxy, while Lanvin is tight and very short.
Given the breadth of fits, styles and clients (English, Arab and Indian; men, women and families; every age from 19 to 55) it’s impressive that Timurkan and her colleagues have so many happy customers. But they do: since By Appointment opened in 2005 it has grown from five rooms to nine, with two more planned for the end of the year. Menswear was also added in 2007 after requests from existing clients.
A big attraction is what comes with the service. Harrod’s won’t just buy you clothes for your wife’s birthday party – they’ll find her an outfit, book the restaurant, pick out a gift and even arrange the flowers. It’s common for the staff to give advice on holiday destinations, arrange all the logistics and select an appropriate wardrobe.
“At the moment the Christmas List service is very popular, where we line up a whole list of present ideas based on a client’s often vague suggestions and communicate that to all his friends and family,” says Wright. “Skiing trips and clothes are also standard until March, with cruise collections popular all-year-round at the moment.”
One of the most unusual requests was for a massive sweet display to be shipped out to the Gulf, part of one royal family’s celebration of Eid (the Muslim festival that celebrates the end of Ramadan, which involves fasting during daylight hours). Cultural understanding was key to that order. None of the sweets could contain pig gelatine, which seems like a small detail until you’re ordering 30 kilos of candy from the Harrod’s food hall.
The diversity of the personal shoppers helps. Timurkan, for example, is Turkish by birth. She studied in the US and worked as a banker before going to Central St Martins to study jewellery. She speaks several languages. Some of her colleagues speak seven or eight.
Each shopper has one or two assistants, which help assemble the collections and return them all before the next appointment. They also help maintain Harrod’s in-depth database of By Appointment clients. Each one has their sizes, preferences and past orders meticulously listed. “So someone can phone up and say ‘you know that China I ordered for the house in St Tropez a couple of years ago? I need the same sent to New York’,” says Wright.
Of course another advantage of Harrod’s is the range of brands to pick from. A Loro Piana vicuña jacket I tried on was one of only three in the world; the store has the only Louis Vuitton clothing concession in the country. The only Tom Ford concession in the country is just across the hall.
The décor of the By Appointment lounge is pretty enjoyable as well – a hushed corridor of padded ochre walls, with private rooms containing velvet chairs, full-length mirrors and rather scrumptious macaroons. The waiting area is lined with deep sofas, features excellent reading material (The Rake) and has a display of exclusive Bill Amberg bags.
Overall a highly pleasant and educational experience. Perhaps I will go back and get that beaver-lined sweater.
Clients of Harrod’s By Appointment sign up for the clothes, but they stay for the restaurant bookings
By Simon Crompton
I don’t envy personal shoppers. They need to impress a client immediately with their choices – perhaps by how the clothes feel, but more likely by how others react. If the wife hates them, or friends laugh at him, they’re a failure.
Apparently one of the most common requests from men that use the Harrod’s By Appointment service is something to go out in – that looks cool, that’s popular with the ladies. It’s hard to think of a sterner test for a new velvet jacket and dress shirt.
“Everything rests on establishing trust,” says Ipek Timurkan, one of the nine personal shoppers at Harrod’s and my guide for today’s 75-minute session. “Once you’ve picked something out and it goes down well, they begin to trust you. Then you can convince them to try something a little different. It takes time and it’s a gradual process, but establishing it is key to a service like this.”
At least it’s easier with men. Women tend to be much more inflexible, convinced they know what suits them and less willing to experiment, says Timurkan. Men are less interested in fashion and keen to make shopping as efficient as possible. So the key skill for a men’s personal shopper is knowledge of Harrod’s cavernous seven floors, and the ability to condense them into a few racks of clothes.
Men are also loyal, which makes things easier. Once they know that one brand fits them well, they will stick with it. But this does mean some men want to buy exactly the same thing, year after year. “Someone might come in with a jacket that’s 10-years old and say ‘can I buy this again?’ The short answer is no, no you can’t,” says Ola Wright, press officer for By Appointment. “If you’re not careful it can become an endless quest to find a jacket that is, necessarily, never going to be the same.”
Again, it’s a question of trust. A middle-aged man must have faith in his shopper to update his look, to give him clothes that will feel the same but look fresher, better.
Apparently the trickiest item to find a man is a shirt. Perhaps because it sits next to the skin, perhaps because fit is so crucial, men are fussiest about shirts. This is demonstrated during my appointment, when I try on several dress shirts. The Brioni is fine but a little bulky in the waist. The Dolce & Gabbana is skin tight, with buttons bulging at the chest. Both are a 15-inch neck. “You need to know every item in every brand really,” says Timurkan. “It’s possible to generalise – the designer names will always be skinnier than the traditional Italian names. But fit can still vary a lot even within a collection.”
That’s proved by the two sweaters I try next. The cream cable-knit cardigan from Dunhill is rounded in the body, expansive at the waist before cinching in quickly at the hips. But the Loro Piana zip-up, cashmere lined with beaver, is snug everywhere. Close, warm, cozy, reassuring; I didn’t want to take it off, basically. Same applies to jackets – Armani is straight up-and-down, even boxy, while Lanvin is tight and very short.
Given the breadth of fits, styles and clients (English, Arab and Indian; men, women and families; every age from 19 to 55) it’s impressive that Timurkan and her colleagues have so many happy customers. But they do: since By Appointment opened in 2005 it has grown from five rooms to nine, with two more planned for the end of the year. Menswear was also added in 2007 after requests from existing clients.
A big attraction is what comes with the service. Harrod’s won’t just buy you clothes for your wife’s birthday party – they’ll find her an outfit, book the restaurant, pick out a gift and even arrange the flowers. It’s common for the staff to give advice on holiday destinations, arrange all the logistics and select an appropriate wardrobe.
“At the moment the Christmas List service is very popular, where we line up a whole list of present ideas based on a client’s often vague suggestions and communicate that to all his friends and family,” says Wright. “Skiing trips and clothes are also standard until March, with cruise collections popular all-year-round at the moment.”
One of the most unusual requests was for a massive sweet display to be shipped out to the Gulf, part of one royal family’s celebration of Eid (the Muslim festival that celebrates the end of Ramadan, which involves fasting during daylight hours). Cultural understanding was key to that order. None of the sweets could contain pig gelatine, which seems like a small detail until you’re ordering 30 kilos of candy from the Harrod’s food hall.
The diversity of the personal shoppers helps. Timurkan, for example, is Turkish by birth. She studied in the US and worked as a banker before going to Central St Martins to study jewellery. She speaks several languages. Some of her colleagues speak seven or eight.
Each shopper has one or two assistants, which help assemble the collections and return them all before the next appointment. They also help maintain Harrod’s in-depth database of By Appointment clients. Each one has their sizes, preferences and past orders meticulously listed. “So someone can phone up and say ‘you know that China I ordered for the house in St Tropez a couple of years ago? I need the same sent to New York’,” says Wright.
Of course another advantage of Harrod’s is the range of brands to pick from. A Loro Piana vicuña jacket I tried on was one of only three in the world; the store has the only Louis Vuitton clothing concession in the country. The only Tom Ford concession in the country is just across the hall.
The décor of the By Appointment lounge is pretty enjoyable as well – a hushed corridor of padded ochre walls, with private rooms containing velvet chairs, full-length mirrors and rather scrumptious macaroons. The waiting area is lined with deep sofas, features excellent reading material (The Rake) and has a display of exclusive Bill Amberg bags.
Overall a highly pleasant and educational experience. Perhaps I will go back and get that beaver-lined sweater.