THE SEA, THE SEA: The Americans have the Hamptons, South Beach and Southern California, while the Europeans have Capri, Cannes and Mykonos.
But a summer seaside pop-up in England? That’s a tough one.
This week, the designer Daniel W. Fletcher, a star of Netflix’s “Next in Fashion,” rose to the challenge, opening a temporary store in Margate, a beach resort on the Kent coast overlooking the English Channel.
Once a magnet for painters such as JMW Turner, and poets including T.S. Eliot, who wrote part of “The Waste Land” there, the town fell on hard times in the ’80s as British holidaymakers opted to travel abroad.
Of late, though, it’s been undergoing a revival thanks to the opening, a decade ago, of the Turner Contemporary art gallery, and an influx of London hipsters who’ve been opening bars, shops and restaurants. Tracey Emin, who grew up in Margate — a 90-minute train ride from London — has moved back, and is working from a new home and studio there.
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“I spent my childhood summer holidays visiting the British seaside with my family, so for me there is something very nostalgic about it,” said Fletcher when asked why he chose Margate in particular. “There’s such a vibrant creative community in Margate, and I’ve been coming here for a few years now, and have fallen in love with the area.”
Fletcher’s new store, at 18 Marine Drive, right by the beach, will stock the designer’s classics, the fall collection, and exclusive pieces inspired by the town. It will also carry pieces from his first dedicated women’s collection, which launched for fall 2021.
Open through July and August, the store will also host “quilting and arts workshops, queer book club meetings, poetry readings and other events” in partnership with local artists and businesses, the designer said.
The store has a Beach Shop that offers Fletcher’s range of recycled frisbees, paper windmills, DWF sticks of hard candy wrapped in compostable wrapping, organic cotton jerseys and swim shorts made using recycled plastics collected from the ocean.
Fletcher has drawn inspiration from Margate’s beaches, and the Kent coast, for the DWF seasonal campaign that features the emerging actor William Franklin Miller and has been photographed by Fabien Kruszelnicki.