Chae Eun Jung [엔젤] Korean Fashion Press Photoshoot

Topshop NYC Opening Thursday

New York City’s Topshop store will be opening in SoHo tomorrow, after several months of construction delays. The four-story store, which closely resembles the Flagship store on Oxford Street in London, is the first Topshop location in the United States, though the retailer has hundreds of other stores around the world.

One of the biggest appeals of Topshop opening in New York is that the store will carry Kate Moss’ fashion line for the store, making the clothing available to American shoppers for the first time in a retail location. Also coinciding with the opening of Topshop NYC is the global launch of the new Spring collection of the Kate Moss Hearts Topshop line.

Amid concerns about Topshop launching a 25,000 square-foot location in New York City during a global recession, Sir Philip Green, president of Topshop’s parent company Arcadia Group, says, “You’ve seen a few retailers collapse, but I think the big people will ride out the storm [...] People haven’t stopped shopping. The young fashion market has still remained pretty resilient during these difficult times.”

Topshop faces competition from Swedish retailer H&M and Spain’s Zara, with the former also featuring celebrity and fashion designer collections, notably from Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld and Madonna. Whereas the special H&M collections are only available for one season, Topshop’s partnership with Kate Moss is already in its ninth collection — and has been arguably more successful than the H&M ventures. Though while the American launch of H&M appealed to shoppers independent of the celebrity collections, it’s undeniable that the Kate Moss Hearts Topshop line is giving Topshop NYC its biggest boost.

To celebrate the new store opening, several parties are planned, both at the retail location — which features a DJ booth — and around NYC. Green will be hosting invitation-only parties at Balthazar; Kate Moss and Green will be hosting an event at the Box on Thursday with Adele and La Roux. Performances by Marc Ronson, Santigold, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and maybe even Lady Gaga are expected as part of the launch festivities.