Designer spotlight: Kitsch Place

Pop-up stores are one of the greatest retail phenomena of our time, and are absolutely fantastic places to get your hands on unique, stylish pieces that you won’t see on every other person you see walking down the street. Recently we spent some time in Melbourne, Australia, and came across an emerging designers market at Melbourne Central Train Station called 100 Squared. Across 100 square meters of colourful and enticing retail space, 100 Squared showcases upcoming talent in the world of fashion design, and allowing cutting edge pieces to come straight from the creators to you. One stand in particular that caught our eye was Kitsch Place. Racks of striking, well structured items lined the stand, and I found it really refreshing to see such exciting individual items on sale rather than walls and walls of mass produced repeats that do nothing but munch at our finances with no real wardrobe lifespan.

We had a chat with Jessica from Kitsch Place, to find out more about the brand and where they find their cute, preppy pieces. “September 7^th 2013 is a very memorable day for us”, Jessica said. She explained that this was the first day they launched as a pop-up store at 1.5m x 3m, and in just a year they have expanded to two stores both at twice the size. Rather than designers, Kistch Place source unique clothing and accessories from Asian designers, and introduces them to the Australian, US and European markets through effective product sourcing, to create a wide offering of sleek, affordable pieces. “Our target audience is younger women in their early 20s who are trend sensitive yet budget conscious. The policy we adhere to when sourcing products is to unique, trendy and high quality fashion staples at affordable prices”, Jessica explained. The prices range from $48AUD to $128AUD (approx. £24GBP-£64GBP).

Jessica told us her favourite brand that they showcase is a Korean line called ArtHotel. “Its not an exaggeration to say that ArtHotel is our brand pride. They use high quality fabrics and stick to limited production”. This monochrome bomber jacket has such a striking print, it would truly enhance a basic outfit, as well as being a great mid season cover up. That said, there is a very exciting line of their own products in the making. The line will consist of statement pieces to complement the rest of the store’s products, using strong, textured fabrics to enhance the aesthetical value of the look. Jessica explained, “the core fabrics are sheer and neoprene, working with vivid colours and fun, kitsch prints like fruits and crackers, to be ready for the Australian summer”.

Emma Edwards

To keep up to date with Kitsch Place’s upcoming products, follow them on Instagram and like them on Facebook!