The Place: Browns founder's son Simon Burstein opens new London store

When the South Molton Street store Browns was sold this summer to the online marketplace Farfetch, it sent shockwaves through the fashion industry. The boutique, founded in 1970 by legendary retailer Joan Burstein, had not only introduced countless names to our shores (Donna Karan, Giorgio Armani, Azzedine Alaïa and Comme Des Garçons among them — she famously accosted Calvin Klein on the dancefloor of Studio 54 and brought his collections to London), it also gave many designers their first big break. Mrs B, as she’s known in the business, was the woman who snapped up John Galliano’s graduate collection from Central Saint Martins in 1984 and put it in her shop windows, and a decade later would do the same with Hussein Chalayan.

Now Simon Burstein, 63, former CEO of Browns, and son of Mrs B and her late husband Sidney, is back with a new concept store that aims to continue the family’s reputation for nurturing fashion talent. The Place is a 1,000sq ft boutique on Connaught Street, a stone’s throw from Edgware Road. It’s a modest set-up compared to the string of bustling boutiques the Bursteins reigned over on South Molton Street. ‘It’s a startup,’ says Burstein over tea in the shop’s cosy salon. ‘I didn’t want to get a store on Mount Street and blow a ton of money. One has to be humble, and this is a beginning.’

Opening his own store was never part of Burstein’s plan. The Place has only come about because he ‘discovered’ the designer Alice Archer, whose richly embroidered pieces are inspired by lustrous oil paintings, at the Best of Britannia show, before Browns was sold. Having committed to nurturing her career, he decided to find a space that could act as both her studio and a small retail space. ‘I’ve always loved working with designers, with talented people,’ he says. He found the shop, a former gallery and basement frame-maker, almost immediately. ‘I like this area; it’s a destination spot. It’s got a charm that South Molton Street had 30 years ago.’ The shop’s official launch party isn’t until next week, but he already counts a swathe of the well-heeled women who populate the stucco townhouses around this corner of Bayswater among his clients. There are other signs that the area is on the rise — Jimmy Choo’s niece, the shoemaker Lucy Choi, has opened here, too, as well as fashion boutique Kokoro and a clutch of restaurants, including Salt & Honey on Sussex Place.

On the rails hang beautiful silk dresses, coats and separates by Archer. Dresses are priced at around £1,600, embroidered denim jackets at £600; customers have already placed bespoke orders. ‘Alice has this approach that combines craftsmanship and technology. That is what real luxury is all about.’ Alongside Archer, the shop carries three other labels: Sofie D’Hoore, a Belgian designer who specialises in clean, timeless separates; accessories from Leather-smith, made at a bindery in Essex also owned by Burstein; and bags from the Queen’s favourite Launer, with whom he has worked for many years. ‘It’s craftsmanship that I absolutely love and that’s what this shop is about. I want The Place to be known for having innovative things, which Browns has always been known for.’

Foraging for the next big thing is in the Burstein DNA. When Simon and his younger sister Caroline (who would go on to launch the beauty brand Molton Brown in the 1970s, and still runs the Browns Bride boutique) were growing up, their parents owned a successful high-street fashion chain, Neatawear, and the family lived in palatial style in Kenwood, North London. When Neatawear went bust in the late 1960s, Simon and Caroline were taken out of school at the French Lycée and, aged 17, Burstein got a job at Browns, then a vogueish men’s store opened by the aristocrat Sir William Piggott Brown, which stocked his favourite Neuman velvet jeans. ‘We were already into fashion at school,’ recalls Burstein. ‘There was no uniform: the girls were in kilts and Shetland sweaters; the boys in these velvet jeans. We were obsessed.’ When Piggott Brown wanted to sell the shop a year later, Burstein urged his parents to snap it up.

Burstein worked alongside his parents for ten years, launching the men’s store in 1976 and hiring a young Paul Smith to help start the in-house Browns label. He then moved to Paris to run the family’s store there. ‘Everybody bought from us,’ he says. ‘Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent — it was the place.’ Settled in the French capital, Burstein met and married Nathalie Rykiel, daughter of fashion designer Sonia, before going to work for the Rykiel family firm. The irony is not lost on him: ‘I think it’s about security, being in a Jewish family.’ He eventually ran their business for 25 years. The couple, now separated, have three daughters: Tatiana, 32, a yoga teacher; Lola, 29, who does the PR for Sonia Rykiel in New York; and Salome, 20, who is at university.

Burstein moved back to London after his marriage ended and took over as CEO at Browns in 2008. It quickly became clear that soaring rents in London were debilitating to independent stores. ‘In France, the landlord can’t put up the rent more than the index of construction — around three per cent — hence you have all these lovely small shops still existing. Here, you’re locked in. I came back to rent reviews on five properties and they all wanted 50 per cent increases. It’s diabolical, but that’s the way the system works here. That’s the challenge retailers have today. All those designer shops on Mount Street? I can tell you they can’t be making anything. Call it marketing or brand building, they can’t be making money. Except perhaps for Louboutin.’

Selling Browns was not an easy decision. ‘Just before doing the deal I remember saying, “I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to sign.” But it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.’ It must have been an even tougher period for his mother, who had spent a lifetime building up the business. ‘She is still emotionally attached,’ he admits, ‘but she gave me her blessing. It was a very creative deal. It took the market by surprise but it felt right. The opportunity to build a bigger online business was unparalleled — it will make brownsfashion.com a big world player.’

For Farfetch’s Portuguese-born chief executive José Neves, who founded the online marketplace (now estimated to be worth $1 billion) in 2007, the acquisition of Browns has consolidated his company’s position in fashion retail. The former fashion director of Net-a-porter, Holli Rogers, has been made CEO, and the storied Mayfair boutique will become a test-bed for new ideas the company can then roll out globally to the 300 stores and boutiques with which it is partnered. The Bursteins continue to hold positions on the board.

Mrs B is busy planning her 90th birthday next year, which she will celebrate with a big party at Claridge’s. Just before we meet, she and Simon have been to the Walpole luxury awards where she showcased one of Archer’s silk evening coats. ‘Everybody was all over her. She looked fantastic, absolutely amazing, and I thought, “This is my best PR,” ’ says Burstein. No doubt she’s keen to offer her own input at The Place. ‘Of course she is! She pops in every week.’