When you think of Manchester, probably the first thing that comes to mind is football or music, but it is a wonderful destination for fashionistas too!
Shopping in the city really is an experience, with a number of malls and precincts, you can find everything from high street to high end and hand made too. The designer outlet village is the largest in the UK and Manchester also boasts the biggest UK shopping centre – the Arndale. For the independent label seeker – head to Afflecks; they have around 60 stall holders whose ranges vary from vintage to young designer, stationery and gifts to art and homewares, wellness and beauty as well as food and drink spaces.
If the industry itself is of interest, the gallery of Costume houses exhibits from the 17th Century to today and showcases working class clothing, shawls and higher end ensembles for men, women and children. There is still a manufacturing sector in the county covering everything from uniforms to yoga gear!
Learning English in Manchester is also a way to spend your time – EC Manchester is right in the centre close to the Manchester Piccadilly station – with lessons generally in the mornings, you have all afternoon and evening to shop! And – as you are interacting with shop assistants and servers, you are practising your English too – so really, it’s like doing homework…
You can set yourself some challenges for example – “I need a gift for my best friend” – learn how to describe your friend and their likes and ask the shop assistants for their recommendations. You can repeat this exercise using different descriptions and at different stores to keep it interesting!
Once you have that perfect outfit for yourself, make sure you get seen in one of the city’s trendy haunts; Ancoats is named one of the best bars in the world, there is also YES, Wine and Wallop and check out Gorilla too.
Music venues are aplenty, and you never know if you are in the presence of the next band to be as bit as The Stone Roses. Many live music venues are free – so you can check out a few and save your sterling for more shopping!
There are galleries and museums – including a hat museum which is in Stockport. This used to be a manufacturing site and showcases 20 fully working hatting machines so you can see how hard our predecessors had to work to make the fashions of the day.
There are multiple institutions for learning aspects of the fashion trade too – The Manchester Met, British Academy of Fashion Design and the Manchester Fashion Institute to name a few. So head to one of our trendiest locations to be able to talk fashion with your new friends from around the world!