Brands you loved which went horribly wrong

[WeDidntHaveWaterBottlesInThe80s]

I was just mourning the demise of the original iteration of Finery, when it was quirky and had great prints and interesting shapes at reasonable prices. Then it became weirdly expensive and Hobbs-esque, then cheap and dull. Any other sad losses? We can weep together.

Hobbs was great in the 80’s. I was studying fashion in Manchester. We’d all pile down to King Street to look in it.

It was quite young orientated then and really high fashion. I really dislike it now. Safe dull and boring with shit fabrics. Cos and Arket do it better.

I miss proper velvet. Not shitty cheap velour. I used to have lovely velvet trousers and dresses in the past. Proper heavyweight velvet. Can’t find it in shops now. It really bugs me when something is described as velvet but it hangs like a dishcloth.

Would you really say Agnes B has gone horribly wrong, though, @Mirabai?

The Covent Garden branch I last went into maybe a year or two ago wasn’t as exciting as the store you mention on Fulham Road in the … 90s. (Those t shirts!) But I went into one in the South of France last year and wanted at least half the stock.

It’s a sad fact that very few ‘independent’ brands maintain the vigour and originality of their early years. Most are bought out by faceless businesses who care for nothing but profit and dividends. Margaret Howell is pretty much the only shining light I can think of - and maintaining those standards of design and quality is clearly just horrendously expensive. (Maybe Paul Smith? Was never my style so I can’t compare past and present.) So this is why it’s necessary to be on one’s toes and identify new quality sources wherever they can be found. Which is primarily online now.

I did have Hobbs stuff in the 80s but it was conservative even then - my mum loved it - ankle boots and warm coats rather than directional.

My Saturday job was at the point where the Chelsea girl was refitted into a river island. It was fancy! Stuff and fabrics that nobody else was selling, proper wooden coat hangers, much, much better quality than now. This would have been about 1987 I think.

Also, bay trading and snob. Loved those too.

(Maybe Paul Smith? Was never my style so I can’t compare past and present.)

Sadly Paul Smith has lost it too. Everything has been dumbed down to the cheapest of cheap and gone very mass market. He's not quite reached Pierre Cardin levels but heading that way. Such a shame. I used to love going into his Floral St flagship back in the 90s. It felt so premium (and way out of my price range). My ex bought a suit there and it was just beautifully tailored and such good quality. Over the years (as I got better paid jobs) I bought various pieces and used to always buy my summer sandals there (he used to do excellent shoes) but even the footwear quality has been dumbed down massively.

Yes, this!!

@Mirabai Yes, I know they did clothes! It is actually where Karen Millen started. The clothing rapidly went downhill after she left. The basic range was great. I had a pair of navy silk espadrilles, still the only espadrilles that I ever found remotely comfortable (and stylish). A friend managed the Rouge store on SLoane Street and Princess Diana was one of his regular clients! PaT has been a huge loss to the shoe sector.

YY to Agnès b. Loved their cotton cardigans and other really great basics. Had a white sleeveless shirt (bought in Lyon) that lasted the best part of two decades. Their store at Brompton Cross was my favourite.

Homeware admittedly, but since The Conran Store was sold off, its new incarnation is terrible. Scandi-inspired DFS product at high-end prices. Awful.

Oh no!! I used to love The Conran Store. I've spent a fortune in there over the years. Must admit I haven't been there for a LONG time as I no longer work nearby but very sad to hear it's no the amazing place of temptation that it used to be. 😥

The Conran Shop? Not really? Oh my goodness! The South Ken store was one of my favourite places in the world, for decades.

When did it turn bad?

I didn’t know that was where Karen Millen started! I still have a raw silk waistcoat from there - really fond of it. There was a baby Rouge on Draycott Ave where I bought my favourite paid of boots ever.

I just had a look on Agnès B website - they have a to die for leather flying jacket - but it’s nearly 2 grand!

@PerditaProvokesEnmity @HundredMilesAnHour

Apologies to be the bearer of bad news. Since they exited the Michelin building, so some time in the last year, I think? I knew changes were aloft when their very successful concession in Selfridges vanished, but was just expecting a more concentrated selection of stock.

It is now located in the old J Crew store on Sloane Square. Their Marylebone store still remains too. They now sell Conran-designed and made items, and a few other homeware, bits and pieces from other brands. The kitchenware is what most disappointed. Such a loss, much of my crockery and other kitcheware is from there, and amassed over two decades.

The Sloane Square store is 'atmospherically lit', in an attempt, perhaps, to mask how bland the furniture is. Think hotel lobby of a 'designer' hotel but one that is bland, soulless and insipid, more regional rather than city. The Conran brand been bought by an overseas investor, I believe, and the furniture would be perfectly placed in the fancy apartments at One Hyde Park that want something Danish-inspired, but without the heritage, and at a higher price. It is aspirational furniture for those whom have money to spend but no taste of their own.

@PerditaProvokesEnmity I think you misread my post on Agnès B. It does have some really lovely stuff - the design is always that bit different from the mainstream. In France it’s more mainstream.

Pricing is interesting, I remember when Next discontinued their catalogues old ones were posted online- often prices in the 80s were similar to whay I'd expect to pay today (things like toys and kettles too).

I would pay more for clothes now if I was sure it would last, most expensive brands now just charge a lot for the same quality level of HM.
I just realized there's extra costs ! I've been buying slips because nothing is lined anymore, insoles because there's no half sizes, lint brushes because cheap fabrics attract dust, crazy !

I'm trying hard not to fall into the trap of mourning something that arguably never existed for me.

I rage often and loudly against the demise of real shops, but I also have to keep reminding myself - and this is the second time I've written this today - that my local high street has been poor for decades. Even in the amazing noughties, I had to travel to find the good shops.

But if I had to nominate one thing for this thread, it would be vintage.

It's not just that the term now includes clothes I wore in my 50s - that's inevitable.
It's not even that the quality here is tanking too - also inevitable as it can only reflect what was in the shops at the time.
It's the sanctimonious chancers who, while trying to rip me off with their '80s' viscose trousers that are clearly made in China, have the bloody cheek to pontificate to me about saving the planet. Fuck off.

@Mirabai

Not many people know the Karen Millen/PaT connection!

IIRC, the baby Rouge store (or cupboard as we called it) of which you speak was on Draycott Avenue, next to Joe's Cafe and the original A.P.C. They stocked Michel Perry, Fausto Santini and Michel Vivien, the latter of which is now stocked by Aime London. Beautiful shoes, I can well believe your favourite boots came from there.

Can well believe the price of a leather flying jacket from Agnès b. So depressing. The price of higher end clothing has risen exponentially. Surely it's untenable? And this is the issue I have now. I desperately need to buy some new footwear but there's nothing suitable anywhere, particularly at the price point I want to pay (which is decent and will happily spend money on something I love), but there is nothing.

I would applaud your rant, @Floisme, but I’m too deep in mourning after @bunnybunnybunnybunny‘s unwelcome news. Also confused: Bibendum still seems to be a going concern at the Michelin building? But what would be the point now? I used to blaze into the Conran Shop, blow half my salary in one fell swoop on green glass vases and billionaires’ tea towels - and then repair to Bibendum to contemplate my profligacy over a glass of wine …

(On top of all this my very local M&S has closed. No more last minute dashes for Friday night crisps. Truly, I have lived too long.)

@Floisme Yes, vintage is what it is all about.

As a dedicated shopper, I try to track down items circa 90s-2010s I missed out on/regretted not buying or those I had owned and have gone AWOL during my many moves/. Thankfully, to online resources, consignment stores and travelling rather a lot overseas, have successfully managed to track down lots of pieces. Shoes are trickier though. Unless they are unworn, I will not buy vintage or preloved shoes.

I do still buy a few things news, but it is getting less and less now.

Thanks @bunnybunnybunnybunny, that's so sad. I walked past the Marylebone Conran a few months ago and nothing I could see inspired me to go in. It just looked like bland furniture and as I peered in, I could no longer see the shelves of lovely kitchenware and houseware that used to lurk at the back on the ground floor that was a treasure trove of things you don't need but must have. So I just kept walking. Explains why there weren't any passers-by going in either. Such a loss.

@WellThisIsFun1 , the waists were definitely smaller in the 1990s.
An M&S size10 skirt I had was a 24" waist.
I still fit into clothes with no waistband. I'm still the same weight as I was in the1990s, but my waist is bigger.

I still love the Agnes B clothes.

Paul Smith is utter yawnsville and so mainstream these days. Their Floral Street stores used to be so exciting in the late 90s and early 2000s. They were one of the first places to have mesh and jewelled Chinese slippers that were everywhere in the late 90s. I also had the most amazing woven basket bag with raffia fruit embellishment, it was vintage 50s American that my mother bought for me before she died.

There's no wit to any of his designs, nor any of the touches that made PS a fresh of breath air, particularly in terms of retailing and individual touches. I guess things like that eat into the profit margin.

Bland is absolutely right. My critique was far too generous!

In a weird way I’ve loved reading this thread - reminds me of going shopping with my mum in Manchester in the early 80s to early 90s when she died when I was 23. I loved going to Kendal Milne with her, and Liberty at the top of King St, and school shoes at Russell and Bromley before scouring the rails at Chelsea Girl and Top Shop. Very happy memories of jumping on the no.17 bus into town with her on a Saturday morning.

Red or Dead and Pied a Terre were great.