Fashion in Nottingham

I wanted to compare the retail spaces in Nottingham compared to at home in Birmingham and see how different they are. So I spent an hour walking around the city going to the Victoria Centre then through the city through the streets where more shops are then up towards Lace Market and then down into Hockley. 4 very different spaces that cater for different target markets and look very different too.

Victoria Centre

The Victoria Centre is the main mall in the city, is has many different high street shops and 2 department stores.

In the Vic Centre I only really use TopShop, Urban, Morphe and the drug stores.

I think the malls choice of shops is quite outdated and the fact they have a market on the second floor makes it feel a lot more outdated. This may be because I come from a large city and our mall is huge; spread across 3 floors with a 5 floor Selfridges as well, I have really high expectations for shopping facilities.

However, the Nottingham TopShop is 10/10, way better than the one at home. The Bullring store feels to me, that their target audience is girls a bit older than me. Like 25-30's. Their casual wear is either big wooly jumpers or their Adidas collection. I'm really not a fan. However, the Notts store has so much stylish casual pieces, like flares, cute dresses, nice trackies and cute jackets. There's so much choice too, for just one floor and a tiny downstairs store there is so many garments in there. I really prefer shopping in that TopShop rather than the one in the Bullring.

The High Streets

The high streets surrounding the Victoria Centre are like normal high streets with normal high street stores such as Primark, Schuh, New Look etc. There is definitely a wide variety of shops and most likely you can find what you need amongst the shops.

The further you walk down the main high street the buildings get more beautiful and I think the prices of the things sold in the shops also increase. So you go from New Look to Zara. The clothes change too, in Zara the clothes are a

lot nicer than New Look, in my opinion.

I wanted to look for shops I knew we didn't have in Birmingham. I noticed 'The Hip Store'. It's a mens streetwear/ skate-wear store selling brands such as Carhartt and Stussy.

I wanted to know if it was an independent store of if it was a chain. I found that there is one in Leeds too.

In terms of the clothes they sell for their target market in this very student- heavy city I think they've got something really good going. Maybe they'll set up some more stores in other cities.

The Lace Market Area

So now you've made your way from the Intu, down the high street and into the Lace Market, as I said the further toward the Lace Market you go the more expensive the clothes are and the nicer the clothes are too.

We start to approach more higher market shops such as Hugo Boss, Diesel and Paul Smith.

I took photos of the shops that are more my style.

I want to look at how Flannels and 18montrose are very close to each other.

They both stock expensive designer brands. I'd say Flannels is more mainstream clothing. People that buy designer just for the label may head into Flannels. Whereas 18montrose is high end designer streetwear that stocks new launches and has created a platform for itself; creating editorials, bloggy kinda posts on their website. Stocking C.P Company, Stone Island, Vetements, Margiela and Moncler. This shop would definitely be a dream to shop in.

Hockley

Hockley is the 'edgy' area of Nottingham. Coffee shops galore, graffiti everywhere and cool vintage shops. I'd compare in to Digbeth, in Birmingham.

When walking around Hockley is was highly enjoyable seeing the bright neon lights, the beautiful vintage fur coats and the gorgeous Chinese food restaurants. What could be more enticing!?

Alongside having cool vintage shops in this area there are also a few independent clothing shops such as 'VOID', where they sell clothes, jewellery and anything you'd need if you were a goth or a punk.

I'd say Hockley is an area where if you are unique or different that you will be celebrated here and you can enjoy yourself and be free in the beautiful cocktail bars or the cinema where they show cool indie films!