And now, for the disappointing part of the trip...

I was, I admit, fiendishly excited when I heard mutterings that Joseph was attempting to regain the cult shopping emporium status it held back in the 80's and 90's.

Now Joseph...or should I say 80's Joseph...holds a special place in my heart. It was my first love. It offered sophistication, wit, allure, and was (to an impressionable youngster) perfection. From the crisp black and white of the stores...to the ads featuring the photography of Pamela Hanson...to the "Joseph girls" (not mere sales assistants, more brand ambassadors who embodied everything that you could...and would...become once you'd been touched by the magic)...they created a vision of a lifestyle which (perhaps sadly) I still aspire to today.

The thought that all this could live again was enticing but, as they say, you can't go back. Joseph Mark II is...wrong. The sales assistants are just that...except without the "assistance" and with a hefty dose of "desperate salesmanship" (poor Mr. Hebden sauntered off into the men's department and was stalked like a zebra trying to cross the Serengeti). The clothes are...strangely uninteresting. The magic is, quite frankly, missing.

Thankfully I have a (rather large) collection of "original Joseph" sweaters, jewelry, and advertising ephemera to see me through the cold winter nights...