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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.

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New York City Topshop Launch Parties

Topshop New York has officially opened, after several days of star-studded events. Sir Philip Green hosted parties at NYC restaurant Balthazar on two consecutive nights, with his wife and daughter, Lady Green and Chloe Green. The first evening featured performances by Marc Ronson and Santigold. While Kate Moss was absent from the first day of festivities, those who present at the party included Jay-Z, Jimmy Fallon, Anne Dexter Jones, Michelle Monaghan, Karolina Kurkova, Georgina Champan, Arlenis Sosa, Jessica Joffe, Simon Hammerstein, and Gossip Girl’s Taylor Momsen.

Jimmy Fallon and Marc Ronson at Topshop launch partyWWD has Marc Ronson quoted as saying, “This is one of the weirdest gigs I’ve ever done and I’m sure it’s one of the weirdest gigs you’ve ever seen.” Among highlights at the party was Jimmy Fallon singing a rendition of Sting’s Englishman in New York, arriving directly after taping his new late night talk show; at one point he broke into the chorus of Beyoncé’s Single Ladies, probably without knowledge of Jay-Z’s presence at the party (though without wife Beyoncé).

Jay-Z at Topshop launch partyJay-Z at Topshop launch party


Michelle Tranctenberg at Topshop store openingAt the store opening itself, Michelle Tranctenberg and Emma Roberts and Hanne Gaby Odiele were among the celebrity faces.

The first evening the store opened (Tuesday) was a more intimate event than the full opening on Thursday morning. Only approximately 100 people were let into the store — a decision made by Sir Philip Green in an effort to get real feedback from people. “With a small group it’s easier to talk to people and understand what they like,” he said. “It would be wrong if we had 1000 people here and didn’t know 900.”

When asked about the Topshop obsession, Emma Roberts said, “I was shooting a movie in London for three months, and I would go to Topshop once a week [...] When I came back to LA, everyone was really jealous.”

The morning of April 2nd, however, was certainly more mayhem than intimate, with shoppers lining several city blocks for hours prior to the 11 am store opening.

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