If you’ve caught the August issue of Female, you’d have glimpsed the bare bones structure of edgy multi-label retailer Dover Street Market Singapore (DSMS) – we headed down in early June to shoot the space when it was still under construction. Fast forward a month and a half later, DSMS is now up and running.

Attending the media preview last Friday, we finally got to see what Rei Kawakubo and her team have been labouring over – and let me just put it out there, DSMS stands right up there with its counterparts in Tokyo, London and New York. One crucial factor differentiates DSMS from the others – it’s the first to be a single-storeyed space (covering a total of 12,770 square foot), whereas others like the Ginza outpost is spread out over seven floors.

Despite the difference in layout, Dover Street Market’s signature mix of cool high-street labels (yes there’s a NikeLab), edgy contemporary labels (Kiko Kostadinov, Molly Goddard, Sacai etc) and high-end houses like Gucci, Balenciaga and Celine are all present and accounted for at DSMS.

Since rumours began in late 2015 that there were talks of bringing in Dover Street Market, fashion and design fiends have been waiting endlessly and now, a year and a half later, one of the industry’s most revered concept stores has finally made it here.

Yes, Kawakubo herself was in town, but insider sources told us that she left just before the media preview – understandable, given Kawakubo’s signature reticence in dealing with the media. Her husband and president of Dover Street Market, Adrian Joffe, was however on hand to handle things.

The fashion crowd, of course, turned out in droves for the preview and we were there to suss out the stylish folks: