Our Fashion students from Barking and Dagenham college stopped explored some of Lisbon’s fashion districts. Our interns were developing a 2 weeks fashion journalism project in Lisbon.

Here’s what Kailey and Isa had to say about their experience:

We went to Rua Augusta, which is an outdoor shopping mall with a range of stores that you can find worldwide like Mango, Stradivarius, Zara, H&M and so much more. This destination spot is 100% a fast fashion area, with stores that are affordable. The atmosphere was very busy with mostly younger generations in friend groups around 18 years old. Very minimal style as the weather was hot, but also very bright, fun and colourful. I found there were a lot of handmade jewellers around this area. Young girls were wearing seashell necklaces, pearls and coloured stones. There were also families walking around, as there were bars and restaurants close to the shops.

The architecture in Rua Augusta is beautiful, there are tons of statues and old traditional buildings. There were lots of fountains and seating areas with colourful umbrellas and live music. So what was the styles like in these affordable stores? Each fast fashion shop that we went in, had different styles provided for different aesthetics. Even though it had a huge range, every piece of clothing in there is trending at this moment.

Finally, we made our way to El Corte Inglés shopping mall. On our way there, we noticed that each metro station closer to our destination was getting less busy. The train was almost empty when we got to our stop. As we headed outside there weren't many people around, mostly cars driving. Expensive cars. As we got into the shopping mall there were car brands like Tesla, and past was a store with luxury high brands such as Dior, Chanel, Versace and Paco Robanne. This store had accessory from perfume, to bags, to jewellery and watches.

I went to see what the jewellery was like as back home in London, I work part time in a jeweller. It was fun to see the different in gold as here, you can only buy 18carat whereas at home (UK) you can only purchase 9. The atmosphere, again, was very quiet, mostly everyone was shopping by themselves. It was also more of middle-aged woman rather than young girls, dressed in formal black attire, completely different to what people wore at Augusta.

Whilst looking through this shopping centre I’ve noticed how even the locals have a culture of dressing classy and colourful. Armazéns do Chiado is more affordable than luxury locations, however you will notice that all the clothes are of good quality. You can see this good quality in shops such as Mango. A beachy aesthetic along with a comfortable and modest silhouette is present within almost all of they’re clothes. You can really see this style reflected onto the streets of Lisboa as locals sport this style whilst doing, they’re everyday activities.

They say that Lisboa is a woman that likes to be pretty, and you can see that whilst looking at the people’s everyday style.

Avenida da Liberdade is one of the poshest places in Lisboa. It is filled with luxury shops and beautiful scenery. The environment there is calmer, and quieter compared to Armazéns do Chiado which was very lively and bright. The people in the area are dressed simple and lowkey I often saw them in neutral tones. The store fronts were more subtle yet always beautiful and organised, they show that same simplicity and beauty of Lisboa yet do it in a more refined and cleaner cut way.

Shopping in Lisbon

Feira da Ladra

Culture Stop: Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga