DUBAI: Luxury modest wear e-tailer The Modist is set to open its first-ever European pop-up at the UK’s Bicester Village, an outlet shopping destination, between Aug. 12-Sept. 24, where shoppers can expect elegant pieces from its own brand Layeur, as well as a carefully-curated selection of attire from luxury brands.
Desirée Bollier, chair and chief merchant of value retail management at The Bicester Village Shopping Collection – a collection of 11 villages, with nine across Europe and two in China – spoke to Arab News about what the modest wear pop-up means for one of the UK’s most well-known outlet experiences.
“The Modist is a game-changing retail concept, it has captured the attention of a generation, with women across the globe embracing the elegance of dressing modestly,” she said, adding that the pop-up “represents the vital role of the physical experience in a digital world.”
Desirée Bollier, chair and chief merchant of value retail management at The Bicester Village Shopping Collection. (Supplied)
According to Bollier, Bicester Village is set to welcome 750,000 guests this August, with 60,000 guests from the Middle East, due to Its heady mix of luxury boutiques and pop-ups and entertainment, all set in picturesque Oxfordshire, a short train ride from London.
“While The Modist will undoubtedly appeal to our guests visiting from the Middle East, we firmly believe that guests from all over the globe will be attracted to this gorgeous boutique brimming with elegantly styled ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories from exciting international brands, some of which will be new to Bicester Village,” Bollier said, before going on to discuss the power of modest fashion.
“Modest fashion is on the rise due to the courage of figureheads such as Halima Aden and Shahira Yusuf,” she said, referring to the hijab-wearing models who have worked with international fashion houses, “who are embracing the industry on their terms and, of course, because the brands are waking up to the revenue that this market can generate.”
Bollier contended that millennials are driving this evolution of what she terms a previously underserved market because “when it comes to dressing fashionably, yet demurely, they… want choice.”
The Bicester Village team work hard to maintain an air of exclusivity in the outlet center to remind shoppers of the value of the goods they are buying.
“With brands under increasing pressure to respond to the demands for newness … we provide a sustainable answer, a ‘second life,’ to unsold stock, one that protects their brand image in a sophisticated environment to remind people of the brand’s intrinsic value,” she said.
