Adventures in Duty Free: Reiss at Heathrow Airport, London

Of all the various hells of modern life, layovers are purgatory. There is nothing more dullsville than being trapped inside a building with no real air, no real soul and nothing but time, time, time to kill till your next flight. A very strange thing happens to people when they're stuck in an airport; they lose all sense of judgment and drink very strong cocktails in the middle of the day, they waft in an existential malaise that no amount of connectivity can kill, they drift about in a crowd of people and still manage to be utterly isolated and alone. In short, it is like an intense version of urban life. And naturally, the geniuses behind airport engineering and design allay this with a variety of shopping options -- just like real life! The problem is, though, that the choices are so reductive and bougie that you find yourself doing things like contemplating buying weird little cosmetic kits full of Dior lipglosses in colors you'd never wear or trying Kate Moss perfume that smells really cheap-o and gross and is only appealing because no one else would have it in the States yet or eyeing cognac in bottles so huge you'd instantly seem like an alcoholic if you carried it around. I mean, why not? It's duty free, after all, and what else are you going to do after you've read all your magazines, checked your email a million times and it's still hours upon hours till your connecting flight? Gah! Time to channel my evil twin and go to Dior and pretend I'm rich enough to buy $400 sunglasses!

It therefore continually surprises me that in the shopping carnival that is an airport, no one puts more clothing stores in, because nothing sucks up more time than clothing shopping. Really -- wouldn't it be genius if Topshop had a little outpost in Heathrow? What could be more British? Granted, the shopping at Heathrow is way better than many airports, what with all the super-fancy boutiques and such. But it still was with a great joy during a particularly long layover to stumble upon the little Reiss boutique in Heathrow recently, probably with an excitement disproportional to what I may have really felt if not stuck in the land of airport hell. I had passed by Reiss many times while in NYC but never stopped in, but had read and heard about it before; it's positioned itself as a bridge between fast fashion and schmancy designer, so it was great fun to wile away the hours trying on various schmattes and such. I honestly probably would not have ever tried on their clothes to such an extent if I wasn't a prisoner of my circumstances.

What I discovered is that Reiss has perfected a sort of easy-going sophistication that's similar in niche to Club Monaco, French Connection and the like; there is nothing super-trendy, but they have a knack for subtlety with a bit of an eye-catching twist that manages to be both youthful but still chic. The styling of many garments was excellent, although the fits were hit and miss, so it's advisable to try everything on. (I find the same thing with Club Monaco, actually -- I call it the "frustrated supermodel" fit, where you seem to need to be tall, but somehow even the tall, skinny people have trouble making it work.) And even though the materials are decent and the finishings are okay, I found the prices a bit high -- probably because every moment in London gave me a bit of a heart attack when it came down to figuring out the exchange rate. (Oh, American dollar, why do you suck?) But I'm told Reiss often has good sales, so there you go. So, yes, Reiss -- a good thing, and next time you find yourself stranded in Heathrow, check it out, especially after you've wandered through the duty free perfume aisles for the umpteenth time and want to drink yourself into a stupor because you're so bored.

Posted by Kat in Shopping
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