Penguin takes flight
Original Penguin
Mon - Wed & Fri - Sat:
10.00am - 7.00pm
Thurs:
10.00am - 8.00pm
Sun:
11.00am - 5.00pm
8 North Piazza
London
WC2E 8RB
GEO:51.512,-0.123146
Phone: 020 7836 6878
Website
In March 2004, actor Jake Gyllenhall appeared on the cover of US GQ magazine sporting an Original Penguin shirt. A few weeks later, Justin Timberlake was papped on a Santa Monica beach wearing a candy pink-striped Penguin polo shirt. Pretty soon, other celebs such as Brad Pitt and Courtney Cox were spotted wearing the one-time vintage golf-shirt brand and, sure enough, the march of the Original Penguin became unstoppable.
What began as golf wear in 1955, once worn by Richard Nixon, Bing Crosby and a myriad of golf pros, is now a huge hit internationally, with its clean-cut range of classic polo shirts and vintage-style clothes proving popular with a new generation of men and women.
The revival of the brand started five years ago with smart ‘guerrilla marketing’ to hipsters in trend publications such as i-D and Vice, piquing interest from high-profile celebs on both sides of the Atlantic, including Noel Gallagher, Damon Albarn, the Foo Fighters and Samuel L Jackson. This support gave it the push it needed to become an essential label for every fashionable type.
The new flagship store, the first in Europe and located in the heart of Covent Garden’s Piazza, carries one of the brand’s biggest collections, including a wide range of the cult Jack polos and a delightfully retro tartan OP windcheater jacket. With its rosewood and chrome fittings, bespoke wallpaper and vintage lighting, the store is a perfect setting for a label that combines Americana heritage with a slick contemporary twist.
With Original Penguin’s new Covent Garden store already pulling in the punters, it’s clear that their smart preppy style is, unlike penguins, really going to take off this year.
