I’ve been meaning to visit Dover Street Market ever since it opened, but these days designer labels aren’t high on my list of priorities. My last visit to a fashion emporium which styled itself as a market, would have been Hyper Hyper on Kensington High Street, which I believe closed down sometime towards the end of the twentieth century! So it was with interest when I visited earlier in the week, on behalf of Tommy Hilfiger UK. The brand has just collaborated with the Keith Haring Foundation to produce a range of footwear, bearing the late artist’s designs. Haring’s brief but prolific career during the eighties, was tragically cut short by AIDS, but his work lives on and will be familiar to most, even if the name is not.
The temporary installation at DSM displays the eye-catching boots and shoes on a backdrop of Haring’s art. Like the rest of store, conventional and permanent shop fittings are eschewed in favour of imaginative sculptural interventions, blurring the line between art gallery and store, with constantly changing exhibitions. No doubt DSM is now firmly established as part of London’s cultural offering. I look forward to future shows.
