FENWICKS’ FINE FASHION AND FROTH
Fashion Scoop. News scoop. Ice cream scoop. I love a scoop. Ice cream scoop with a hot shot of espresso thrown on top. Scooped out of a chilled glass, as I eye up a Vix leopard print swimsuit hanging 3 metres away from me, oh and that that zig-zaggy Missoni bikini? Handful of smarties in one hand, pistachio and chocolate twirl in the other. This is some Daily Grind. A shot of espresso hand pumped lovingly from a gleaming vintage Gaggia 1948beast of a machine, restored to it’s former glory, fresh from it’s birthplace of Italy. This la Dolce Vita in London. Fine fashion and fabulous froth at FENWICKS with lots of leopard print. A good way to shop. And just before you or your husband drops, slither onto one of the gleaming bar stools at the new Affogato Bar and sip on a coffee or scoop on an affogato.
The bar is the creation of food critics Fay Maschler and Simon Davis, who have amongst other things launched a restaurant website www.pageonelondon.com. keeping you up to date on London’s Hot 100. “What’s it like being a critic who can now be criticised?” I ask Simon, who points out that an almost-shoppin- weary husband flexed his credit-card wielding wrist on an espresso at the bar, as his wife paraded past in a number of outfits she was trying on. She shopped. He drank. He paid. She scooped up her purchases. He scooped up the last handful of smarties.
Fenwicks, my favourite department store, has had a fabulous face-lift. At the bar I felt like I was in Italy. As I poured over the new hip Wildfox t-shirts and J Brand jeans (more of this in a later blog) I felt like I was in New York. And then I felt like I was in Paris – where glorious lables such as Maria Luisa (a Fenwicks exclusive) and Rue du Mail, and La Petite Salope and Cerrutti are show cased spectacularly. And then there’s the vast shoe department. Hah! Yes, there I felt like I was in heaven. Scoop me up off the floor. Please.
Fenwicks, Bond Street, London W1 0207 629 9161.
