London's Lost Department Stores

Best-selling social historian Tessa Boase takes us behind the scenes of London's lost department stores, bringing back to life a vanished era of confidence and style. Today's consumer has little idea of the sheer dazzle of these 'Halls of Temptation' during the golden age of shopping – of their sheer theatrical spectacle, the overwhelming assault on the senses, the astonishing architectural élan. From the fabulous Art Deco of Derry & Toms, to the Moderne lines of Simpsons Piccadilly, department stores led the way in fashion and design. As new social hubs for the independent Victorian woman, they engineered social progress. They became legendary for their publicity stunts, their Christmas shop windows, their exotic pet departments, their furs: as places where you could buy anything. Full of immersive period detail and vivid human anecdote, London's Lost Department Stores unpacks the secret stories behind fifty once-great stores.