The New East has always boasted an amazing range of shopping options: from old imperial arcades to down-and-dirty second-hand stores and pop-ups. Recent years have seen the rise of the concept store, bringing high-fashion exclusivity and start-up creativity to some of the most exciting emerging style capitals of the world.
Chaos Concept, Tbilisi
Located in the same former publishing house as the renowned Rooms Hotel Tbilisi, Chaos Concept is a real centre of gravity for the local scene. It’s more than a fashion store — there is a skate ramp in the corridor and a room for small exhibitions — although there’s more than enough room for House of Holland, Shrimps and Anton Belinskiy among the brands stocked; alongside the shop’s own brand these put it firmly on the fashion map.
KM20, Moscow
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Kuznetsky Most 20, set up by world-renowned it-girl Olga Karput, has been Moscow’s key fashion destination for years. The store’s buying team is in the know: it stocks such hyped brands as Kanye West’s Yeezy, Off-white and Alyx and upcoming talents such as Liam Hodges, Craig Green and Marques Almeida.
Thisispaper Flagship Store, Warsaw
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Warsaw-based Thisispaper magazine is renowned for its refined taste in architecture, fashion, photography and product design. Their flagship store, set up by the magazine’s founders Zuzanna Gasior and Alexander Zaharov, features their own range of bags and accessories alongside Polish books, Japanese tea sets and state-of-the-art stationery in a light, airy, minimal interior.
SV, Moscow
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Open since 2001, SV Moscow is an unmissable destination thanks to its refined selection of world-renowned brands — it’s brought the likes of Vêtements, The Row and Haider Ackermann to Moscow for the first time, and has been presenting Comme Des Garçons’ main runway lines since it opened — in minimal yet comforting settings in brown and beige hues.
Printa, Budapest
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Printa is the go-to place for eco-fashion and the finest of Hungarian contemporary design. Printa are silk-screen specialists, and their T-shirts, bags, home accessories, notebooks and postcards, as well as the garments of their own brand AWARE, are all made using ecologically-sound materials. Coffee in exquisitely designed surroundings is a bonus.
FlatLab, Budapest
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Flatlab was founded in 2011 by six friends who all worked as freelance designers as a combined office space, workshop and shop. Flatlab is a real showcase of Budapest’s latest design ideas, where one can find anything from clothes to handmade backpacks, soap and stationery goods, to porcelain, prints and even walking tours of “hidden” Budapest.
Text: Anastasiia Fedorova