How the collapse of Matches has sent the fashion world into frenzied chaos
Walking along a ghostly Mount Street over the weekend was sobering. Roksanda Ilinčić’s beautiful Grade II listed store, which opened to much acclaim in 2014, has recently shuttered and is relocating.
Along the street, Matches’ grand five-storey flagship townhouse at 5 Carlos Place is still open, with a perfunctory notice on the door about the company’s state of administration. Inside a po-faced sales assistant helped a customer waving her phone around asking for the heavy discounts which are available on the retailer’s website. High spenders are being offered up to 40 per cent off online as administrators Teneo scramble to recoup funds. In the Marylebone store, one friend was told by a member of staff to not try to buy anything online.
Few have escaped Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group sale and squander of Matches, which it bought in December for £52 million and put it into administration on March 7. The demise of this once-prized retailer has rippled across the London fashion food chain from buyers and brands to factories, PR agencies, stylists and beyond. The entire glittering ecosystem is under threat and rife with gossip.
Speaking to the said that “to say this is difficult and unsettling for the industry is an understatement”. The stockist list is a who’s who of luxury, from Alaïa, Balenciaga, Valentino, The Row, Christian Louboutin and Loewe to the London stars, including Hindmarch, Vivienne Westwood, JW Anderson, , Erdem, Simone Rocha, Molly Goddard, Emilia Wickstead and Samantha Cameron’s Cefinn. And everyone — from major names to small, homegrown talent — has been caught in the crossfire.
