For an eye-rolling, gasp-inducing and credit-card-maxing experience, head to the Highland Park Village shopping center in upper-crust Highland Park, Dallas' answer to Nob Hill. Half squint, and you could almost imagine you were walking round a Spanish mission from a Sergio Leone western, until the Fendi and Gucci signs come into focus. According to locals, this is the oldest suburban shopping center in the world, and it's certainly long-lived – the mall opened in 1931, and it was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2000.
Dallas' original shopping hub
The idea for this mock Wild West mall came from Dallas bigwigs, Hugh Prather Sr and Edgar Flippen, who helped transform Highland Park from a dusty backwater into one of the city's swankiest neighborhoods. The Spanish mission theme was selected primarily to create a European-style village square – its founders would have approved of the showy international brands who have taken up residence in modern times.
If Jimmy Choo, Alexander McQueen and Carolina Herrera are among your intimate acquaintances, you’ll feel right at home here. If not, it’s still worth dragging yourself away from the Dallas sights for a nose around the ritzy stores to see Texas money in action (or just to see who wins when an Escalade and a Jaguar face off for a prime parking spot). Our pick for the most appropriate Highland Park brand is French jewelers, Van Cleef & Arpels, paying accidental homage to western movie baddie Lee van Cleef.
The money, of course, flows from oil, and Highland Park was a regular shooting location for the TV show Dallas, the ultimate celebration of Texan oil prosperity. Fittingly, the mall abuts the golf course of the Dallas Country Club, the first country club to open in Texas. Prosperity, alas, does not always guarantee good taste; the mall's charming Village Theater – a gem from 1935 – was stripped of its art deco interior in 1987, but the tower-topped frontage was thankfully preserved for posterity.
Practicalities
The mall has lots of parking and there are plenty of places to eat while you browse the brands: take your pick from sushi, lobster rolls, tacos, upmarket Italian food, and several cafes and juice bars for fashionistas who lunch.