Fashion Marketing: California versus London

BASED ON MY OPINION

California is a broad term to speak of and has stereotyped the California girl (just as the New York girl and so forth). California is about 1.9 times bigger than England and living in one part of California is completely different compared to living in another part. Just like the different parts of England. We have the girls who live in northern California, central California, and southern California. We have the girls who live in the city, the girls who live in the suburbs, and the girls who live in the rural/country side. The fashion styles different tremendously and fashion is offered differently. My former roommate lived in an area where the nearest, good shopping center was 15 minutes away. On the contrary, I grew up in an area where I had six shopping centers within 15 minutes away.

I live in the dorms here in Hatfield and the nearest shopping center is an absolute dirt hole (The Galleria). I'm not even sure if you can even call it a shopping center. There's nothing fabulous about it and you would not see my customer shopping in this sort of location. I went to St. Albans a few days ago and had higher expectations. I feel like all the stores aren't flashy with their store fronts compared to back at home. It wasn't as busy and the mall did not have much to offer, but a few stores. The Top Shop and River Island was very different compared to the ones on Oxford street. It was a lot more mellow and had lesser employees working. The experience was different. When I walked in to each store, I felt like the employees were bored and didn't have much to do. The stores looked the same to me also. They offered the same sort of styles, with their little twist in a different price range. On Oxford Street/Circus, it was quite insane. Lots of clothing, lots of people... just lots of things going on.

Unlike my experiences here in England, I feel like there are so many different stores that offer different styles. The shopping centers are bigger and have all sorts of stores for the woman. You can go for a classier look, something more beachy, something more skater-like, something more fashion forward, etc. Not all the fashion stores are located in shopping centers also. There are tons of thrift stores and independent stores that are in random locations. Also, selling clothing has taken a different step, ONLINE. I know a ton of American websites where you can only purchase the items online. A lot of stores have used social networking such as Facebook, Instagram, etc. to help their brands sell their merchandise.