The Lure Of Burlington Gardens

No one would necessarily associate shabby chic with Savile Row in London but now that Abercrombie & Fitch opened a flagshop store in Burlington Gardens, the crowd thronging the environs of Savile Row during the weekends is distinctly younger and I daresay, gayer.

Yes, 7 Burlington Gardens, where Abercrombie & Fitch is located, is London's latest gay clothing mecca. The store opened its doors sometime at the end of March this year. I missed the opening by less than a week during my last visit and was rather annoyed by that. This time around, I was determined to go round for a shufti.

My first visit was on Saturday which turned out to be a bad day as it was raining and also the day of the gay Pride parade. The shop is located barely 5 minutes walk off Picadilly Circus end of Regent Street which was part of the parade route.

As I approached the store from othe direction of Burlington Arcade as I had just come from Jermyn Street and had also bought some yummy but ridiculously overpriced macarons from Laduree. That's the last time I'm buying macarons from Laduree as they cost GBP6 per 100g (or 5 macarons) , not including the weight of the box which is also extortionately priced at GBP6 per 100g! The ones from Maison Paul are much better value at GBP7 for a dozen but I digress.

The thump of dance music emanating from the premises was audible as I approached the shop. The porch was crowded with people and initially I thought that perhaps the shop was crowded but it turned out that the people were standing around oggling 2 half-naked male models posing at the entrance. It was not exactly the warmest of days to be shirtless but they models certainly looked good without their shirts on - buff, handsome and wearing low-rise jeans from which the waistband of their pants were quite visible. My heart skipped several beats - if only more shops had models like that!

I've been to the A&F store in San Diego but there weren't any shirtless male models like in the London store. Perhaps they only have these in the flagship stores.

In any case, the models were something of a draw and most of the crowd were probably gay boys like me enjoying the sights. Every so often, the models would change and you'd get to see different cute, shirtless boys in their jeans. If you like that sort of thing, do head down to the A&F store each weekend and you're mostly guaranteed to see the shirtless models preening. Some of them looked rather uncomfortable - no doubt because they were made to feel like pieces of meat. I rather felt sorry for them who did feel uncomfortable about being shirtless gimmicks (for which I wouldn't mind giving them hugs and kisses to help them feel better, if that would helped) but for those models who really liked showing off them torsos, I definitely want to see more! I suppose that's the cornerstone of A&F's advertising philosophy and it obviously helps them to sell their clothes.

As I entered the store, I was very surprised. It a multi-level, dimly light place with high ceilings and strategically placed spotlights - it could well have been a gay dance club. The air was heavy with male pheromones but that wasn't really surprising at the crowd was predominantly male and if my gaydar was working correctly, gay as well. The other thing which struck me about the A&F store in London is how important the (gay) male customer base is. Most shops have don't have menswear on the ground floor but as soon as you walk into the A&F store, it's menswear. Womens wear is tucked away somewhere at the rear and also upstairs with the childrens wear.

I wandered around happily like a child in a candy store (not just because of the clothes but because of the sight of so many hot guys) which is rather an appropriate comparison as there was certainly lots of male eye candy about as most, if not all the sales assistants were all looked like model types.

Uncharacteristically of me, I didn't buy anything that Saturday as it was too crowded to try any clothes on. I decided to return to the store the next day but it was similarly crowded. However, the trip was worth it because there were more shirtless male models at the entrance of the store.

I'm nothing if not goal-oriented as seeing as I'd been unsuccessful in buying any A&F clothes on Saturday and Sunday, I returned on Monday to accomplish my mission. It was much better this time as it was definitely less crowded but unfortunately there were no shirtless models on display. I think they are only a weekend phenomenon.

I managed to find a pair of Rasmusens which I liked and decided to try them on. There were also on sale some Premium Rasmusens which were going for GBP198 a pair and much as I don't mind spending money on clothes, paying that sort of money for a pair of distressed jeans, however uniquely distressed they might be, is just silly.

As I was trying on the jeans, I'm sure the sales assistant at the changing rooms was checking me out or at least checking out my arse. He was South African, judging by his accent (or perhaps Namibian but I think the chances of meeting a Namibian in London are quite remote as compared to meeting a South African) and very cute. He seemed to like what he was seeing and I deliberately teased him by bending over to pick up something and he was definitely looking.

Sadly, I lacked the courage to ask him out or at least give him my phone number.

While at the store on Monday, I saw one of the erstwhile shirtless models but this time, he was fully clothed (albeit looking very sexy in his A&F kit) as a shop assistant. So it appears that the sales assistants double as shirtless models on the weekends - not a bad idea from A&F's point of view. No wonder the sales assistants all looked like model types. It was a pity that he wasn't shirtless today but I could definitely see his bulging biceps under his shirt. I was looking at one of the shirts which was out of my reach and he came over to help me. Turns out this hottie is Australian (could tell from his accent) as he climbed a step to get to the shirt I was wanting and I got a fantastic view of his arse. I'm not normally an arse boy but this one gave me a hardon. Unfortunately all that were available were the big sizes and the cute Australian boy was very apologetic and said that I might want to return during the next weekend when new stocks arrive. I probably will.

I think the A&F store is a place where I would like to work although I probably don't qualify as I am probably overqualified in some respects and not sufficiently qualified in others so I'll just have to stick with my job as an in-house lawyer for Shell. At least that gives me enough disposable income to buy whatever I want from A&F.