Dover Street Market, originally located in Mayfair, relocated in 2016 to a Grade II listed building in St James, erected by Burberry founder Thomas Burberry.

The 31,000 sq ft store is a multi-level retail and concept space developed by the Japanese designer of Comme des Garcons, Rei Kawakubo. She was keen to ‘embrace and enhance’ the building’s original features so the majority of the exterior, original ceilings, windows and staircase remain untouched.

With installation spaces and special pop-ups, Dover Street Market houses all the Comme des Garson’s lines, as well as variety of other labels such as Vetements, Raf Simons, Junya Watanabe, Balenciaga and many more.

But what is it exactly that makes Dover Street Market so special? It closes twice a year for a three-day refit which is inspired by “tachiagari,” (translating to “beginning” in Japanese), and swaps out collections regularly, meaning every six months your experience of the store is completely different.

If you ask anyone with an interest in fashion, they’ll say that Dover Street Market is so much more than simply shopping. Rather than renting out the spaces, DSM take a commission from each concession and invests in the design and connectivity of the store so that different areas don’t become isolated islands fighting for customer’s attention. Each brand is encouraged to decorate their own area within the store, while notorious art duo Jake and Dinos Chapman, graphic artist Jamie Reid and set designer Gary Card, have all contributed to display windows.

Dover Street Market was first located in London and has since expanded, with locations in Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore and New York.