Seven Dials London | The Personalised Fashion Shopping Centre

I recently took a tour around the much lauded Seven Dials, the hidden shopping village located in Covent Garden, London. Seven Dials inherited its name from it's the focal point for a cross-section of seven streets that were chosen by Thomas Neale, MP in the early 1690s, with the intention of attracting affluent residents.

Today it's one of London's best worst-kept secrets, interconnecting seven streets, with over 96 fashion, beauty and lifestyle stores and over 90 independent restaurants, cafés and bars.

In my latest YouTube video, I take you inside some of my new-found favourite haunts, premium watch brand Nixon, perfumery Le Labo and super-cool Superga. 

What I loved about all three stores was the customer experience. If you've been reading a lot of the business blogs I've been posting recently you'll notice that there is a current trend of marquee name brands losing a lot of their high street appeal. And that's not just down to the competition they're facing online, it's down to the lack of imagination when it comes to offering a customer an experience when they step inside. 

First stop on the tour was action-sports heritage watch brand NIXON. A true original slice of Californian Americana. I felt like royalty picking out the watch strap, the bezel, the customised face gun metal matte-finish face. You even get to select your crown design. (The nobly bit on the side of the watch, not an actual crown. I'm not the Pope Gregory the 9th).

Everyone is unique they scratch it by hand to give it its very esoteric finish. Where else can you get such a personalised watch tailored to your own hearts desires? 

Next stop the New York-based perfume house, Le Labo. It garnered a name for itself in America back in 2006 for its iconic collection of handmade perfumes and home scents. I opted for the irresistible Le Noir 29, composed from 29 ingredients (onsite) that I'll review at a later date so stay tuned. This house is a very warm, welcome space and the products are a true testament to the creative and talented perfumers that uses only the highest quality raw ingredients.

After a quick stop off at Boki on Earlham St for a swift G&T and it was on to the headline act, Superga. Those of you that caught my Reiss editorial will notice I'm going through something of a Steve McQueen phase and one of the most iconic pictures of Steve McQueen is him sitting on a couch, pointing his pistol wearing his Superga trainers.

(Although it has never been proven that they are Superga, and any blog that tells you otherwise is just 'rounding up' hearsay and hyperbole. However, as it's never been proven otherwise, and if it has please comment in the box below, I'm going to go with the consensus that they are Superga). 

Apologies, I digress. At Superga they have an in-house artist that will ink a silhouette design of you choosing. Amazing right? I opted for a portrait of my French Bulldog Charlie on a pair of ankle high blank canvass trainers. Can't tell you how made up I am with these. How would you style yours? 

What a day out down Seven Dials and what a magical nerve centre for awesome retail experiences. Check out the video and subscribe to my channel for styling tips and cool places to shop in London.

This sponsored post was created in collaboration with Seven Dials.