RESPECTED fashion industry figures helped to officially launch Darlington’s newest addition to Grange Road.

The Dolly Mama Boutique has relocated from its base on Northumberland Street and expanded to offer women the chance to buy a new outfit and get their hair and makeup done instore at the same time.

The concept is fairly common in big cities, but store co-owner Anna Caygill said it was a first for Darlington.

She was joined at the boutique’s official opening on Saturday by Darlington designer Louise McNaughton, founder of the Wolf and Whistle clothing company, and fashion blogger Gina Box whose Instagram page has more than 85,000 followers.

The store’s lower floor has been open to customers for the last three weeks but this weekend marked the official opening of the whole venue.

Ms Caygill said: “It has been going really well, there’s been a huge difference just moving around the corner from Northumberland Street, we just seem to be reaching so many more people with the traffic running through Grange Road and people coming from Sainsbury’s.

“It has opened us up to a whole new customer base; it is going really well and we’re really happy here.”

The store offers a range of mostly British fashion labels and it came as a nice coincidence that by stocking of Wolf and Whistle they were also supporting a Darlington-born designer.

Ms Caygill said: “We wanted to stock Wolf and Whistle anyway, and then I realised Louise is from Darlington and we went to all the same schools which is a nice twist really.”