Nestled in the heart of the city centre at Flying Horse Walk, Gigi Bottega has quietly clothed a range of stars and fashion-savvy style lovers for ten years. As thousands of shoppers gear up to hit the city and get their hands on Christmas treasures, we talk to owners Gabriella Trivigno and her mum Debra Trivigno about how this hidden boutique is flying the flag for independent luxury fashion in Notts.
There aren’t many Nottingham independent clothes shops who can say they’ve helped clothe the stars, but browsing the shelves and rails of small but mighty boutique, Gigi Bottega, it’s easy to see why it’s amassed such a cult following. Offering an array of luxury women’s wear, as well as jewellery, sunglasses, accessories and perfumes, its shoppers include the likes of Daisy Lowe, Louise Redknapp, and Phil Oakey, as well as a regular throng of fashion-forward style lovers and top stylists.
The shop, which is located in an iconic black and white 15th Century building at Flying Horse Walk, first opened its doors ten years ago when owner Gabriella Trivigno and her mum Debra Trivigno, inspired by trips to Italy, noticed a gap in the market for a high-end boutique in Nottingham.
“Me and my mum have always worked in retail and we wanted to do something together,” Gabriella says. “We were used to going to Italy and seeing all these lovely boutiques, and we just felt like it was missing in Nottingham. So that's how it started.”
There was a time when Nottingham was widely regarded as a must-visit for shopping. Before the launch of Gigi Bottega, the city used to see visitors from across the country flock to its streets, with Clumber Street once becoming the busiest street in Europe back in the 1980s. Recent years have seen the city’s shopping scene go through some drastic changes, following the loss of many shops, coupled with the ongoing rise of online fast fashion and the effects of COVID and Brexit.
“I’m from Nottingham and grew up here. Back in the 80s, and even before that, we had the best boutiques ever,” Debra adds. “Everywhere you looked, there were stunning boutiques with individuality, rather than everybody just following the masses. Now, people see something on somebody's Instagram and then they’ll just go and buy it. We’re definitely about bringing individuality back to Nottingham and something different that you can't find anywhere else.”
Today, Gigi Bottega is one of the last independent high-end clothes shops still left in the city. Its ability to adapt and evolve, while staying true to its core ethos of offering premium quality items and a personable shopping experience, has helped it stay relevant, even in the era of TikTok Shop and SHEIN.
“We're a go-to shop for a lot of people now, which is really nice. And actually, when we buy our collections, we do get inspired a lot by our clients, and what they've wanted in their wardrobes. We also know now, after doing it for so long, what items a client might need, and we have such a good relationship with them. They're just the best and are like our friends now.”
With a focus on small runs of stock from luxury contemporary designers, the shop prides itself on offering carefully curated items you won’t find anywhere else in the city, and often even anywhere else in the UK. Its philosophy is all about offering expressive looks that are versatile enough to be worn at all hours of the day, with pieces that can transition seamlessly from day to night.
When we were going back and forth to Milan, we saw that these concept stores were the ones which were thriving. It was what we wanted to create here
“We started off completely different to what we do now, with ultra high-end labels,” says Gabriella. “But there are also a lot more limitations that come with the higher end brands. A lady came into the shop back in 2016, and she showed us this brand called 8PM. It was a more attainable price point for people, and was something that they couldn't find online. So we made the decision to do more contemporary brands.”
Sustainability isn’t a word often associated with high-end fashion, with many designers in recent years facing scrutiny for playing a big part in the damage the fashion world has caused the earth through overproduction, the use of non-bioldegradable materials and the pollutants found in many dyes. However, Gabriella and her mum make a conscious effort to stock true sustainable items.
“There are a lot of brands that like to say they're sustainable, but we actually stock sustainable brands. This even comes down to brands who have changed the way that they package the clothing now. They use less plastic and if it is plastic, it's all recycled,” Gabriella says.
Recent years have seen style lovers increasingly using perfume as a way to elevate an outfit and in doing so, style becomes a multisensory affair, less about solely the way something looks and more about how you can curate an energy, feeling and persona through blending textures, scents and creativity.
Gigi Bottega has been hot off the mark to embrace a new wave of contemporary perfume brands, offering brands only stocked in a handful of places in the UK - if at all.
“There's a story behind every single fragrance that we've got,” Gabriella says. “We’ve also got a bit more experimental ones too, like American Psycho which was actually made in collaboration with the film director of American Psycho. This was what the perfume creator imagined that Patrick Bateman would smell like. So it's got the sparkling water that he drinks in it, with bergamot, sage, aqua, lily of the valley, sandalwood, amber and vetiver.”
Other fragrances in the range include Purple Haze which is inspired by the Woodstock Festival and Chronic, which is inspired by the famous Dr. Dre album of the same name. Two particularly innovative perfumes in the range are Pink Jesus which has been made in collaboration with a weed farm in America, which noticed one pink leaf on one of their plants, and used it to create pink marijuana.
The boutique isn’t the only venture under Gabriella’s belt, with the family also owning the restaurant Bar Gigi, located above the shop. It’s an offering Gabriella says is reminiscent of many boutique concepts in Italy and was a considered choice for her.
“Why we opened the restaurant upstairs with the boutique was just as a way to create a nice place for people to come,” she says. “They shop, they eat. It's like a bit of a concept store. When we were going back and forth to Milan, we saw that these concept stores were the ones which were thriving. It was what we wanted to create here – just one big place to come and experience lots of great things under one roof.”
Find Gigi Bottega at 15 Flying Horse Walk, Poultry, NG1 2HN.
@gigibottega
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