SINGAPORE shopping guide
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This most vibrant of the economic tigers of South East Asia is not just a city-state brimful of technology, state-of-the-art buildings and impeccably tidy urbanity. Its level of economic development and the standard of living of its people, coupled with the fact that Singapore has long been a gateway to other Asian countries for business dealings, have resulted in high-level commerce featuring some of the best-known brands in fashion. Luxury shopping is centred on the city’s hotels and great shopping malls around Orchard Road, Singapore’s main shopping street. From Park Mall westward more than a kilometre of fine shops stretch out, with traditional silk shops and local emporia mingled with hotels and shopping centres occupied by luxury brands. The first major mall on this route is Paragon, which contains major fashion stores featuring various styles, from Bottega Veneta and Gucci to Diesel and Armani Exchange, combining different styles in a careful selection.
Just opposite, across The Link, two large, modern malls vie with each other in the same building to host the best brands: the Singapore branch of Takashimaya and Ngee Ann City feature leading domestic and international brands such as Louis Vuitton and Chanel, along with a select range of high-quality jewellery stores. On the same side of the street, the ground floor of the elegant Wisma Atria skyscraper is home to an interesting shopping centre with brands such as Paul & Joe and Lanvin, and the Isetan Orchard centre, one of the two stores in the city run by this Japanese firm. Further down the street, Forum: The Shopping Mall seeks to attract the younger crowd, rivalling centres elsewhere in Asia in terms of modernity with brands such as Emporio Armani. Just opposite, Palais Renaissance offers brands such as Valentino and DKNY. The final mall on the route is DFS Galleria, where, as always, every last detail is taken care of. It stands just a few metres away down Scotts Road, beside the second Isetan store: Isetan Scotts.
Two hotels in particular stand out for the top fashion brands that they house: the Hilton Singapore contains a shopping arcade with a select range of brands including Mulberry, Dolce & Gabbana and Balenciaga among many others. The Four Seasons Hotel contains a multi-brand store which has become a real institution in the fashion world: Club 21. It is managed by its founder, Christina Ong, and can also be found in other sectors such as the hip hotels of The Metropolitan in Bangkok and London. It has two stores in the hotel, for men’s and women’s fashions, which offer clothes by the best designers. Heading east to Bras Brasah Road shoppers can find one of the world’s most beautiful, most historic hotels: the Raffles Hotel, which stands out not only for its colonial style and for having welcomed renowned writers such as Rudyard Kipling, Somerset Maugham and Joseph Conrad as guests but also for its fine luxury shopping centre, which features brands such as Louis Vuitton. Just opposite the hotel stands the Raffles City shopping centre, which also features an interesting selection of major names. Most shopping is concentrated around Orchard Road and the adjacent streets, but there is also another part of Singapore renowned for the remarkable beauty of its buildings, where the architectural traditions of the city have re-emerged, which is now at the cutting edge of the city in terms of modern stores and fine restaurants: Tanjong.
In Tanjong you can find the multi-brand store Front Row. Based in an attractive, beautifully maintained building built - like most buildings in the area - in the local style, it contains not only a clothing store with brands such as A.P.C. but also a small delicatessen selling products by Dean & De Luca, among others, and an art gallery. Just opposite stands another multi-brand store, Venue, which features an urban style with international brands such as Raf Simons among others. If you cannot decide where to shop among the huge range of stores, or if you have no time left to visit some of the city’s exquisite stores and shopping centres, Singapore offers you a last-minute chance to purchase leading fashion brands at its extraordinary airport. Changi Airport is deservedly renowned as one of the finest airports in the world, not just because of its facilities, its halls and its standard of service but also because of the shops that it contains, particularly its fashion stores, with which no other airport in the world can compare. Waiting for your flight has never been so pleasant, and nothing calms those pre-flight nerves better than a successful foray into the duty-free zone. |
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