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Alannah Hill
Step into this fun, fruity palace of fancy, where flirty, frilly, flimsy fabrics are made into chocolate-box dresses and bordello-style boudoir ornaments. Loud music helps fluffy chicks forget about their credit card bills as temptation knows no boundaries...
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Andrew McDonald
Sydney's best in custom footwear for men and women can be had at this small Paddington workshop. Choose your materials, colours and even styles (or they can replicate a desired design) and expect exquisite, long-wearing and perfectly fitted shoes. Great for those with 'difficult' feet, or just anyone who wants something unique.
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Belinda
Super-stylish über-boutiquist Belinda Seper's namesake store offers up a small but excellent selection of just-so bags and shoes, along with a few fashions to add to the fun. Men, check out their menswear shop just a few doors down.
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C's Flashback
Looking for a mad secondhand sequinned or beaded number for a party? How about a groovy cowboy shirt? We don't know exactly what C was on, but her flashback is pretty damn camp. This secondhand clothing store sells both men's and women's threads. There's another store at 180 King St, Newtown.
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Christensen Copenhagen
Owner Marianne Christensen buys up smart and fun imports with UK, Italian and French labels (as well as jewellery from Copenhagen), though Collette Dinnigan frocks can sometimes be seen here too. Expect fun and feminine party dresses and a staff happy to advise with the utmost tact.
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Copeland & De Soos
Specialising in late 19th- and 20th-century decorative art and design (think Art-Nouveau and Art-Deco furniture), this charming store also does a nice line in 20th-century jewellery, such as big resin bangles and Scandinavian silver. Service is friendly and knowledgable.
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Corner Shop
This treasure-trove of a boutique is stocked with unique and original foreign goodies like stylishly torn jeans, cosy turtlenecks and wispy things that go 'slink' in the night. It's a good mix of casual and high end (including some excellent second-hand clothes), with some jewellery for good measure.
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Evelyn Miles
Ensconced in the ground floor of the luxurious Stamford Plaza Hotel is this high-end retailer of footwear for women. It's here that credit cards and chiropodists' nightmares merge into one stiletto-heeled fantasy. Join Naomi Watts and Sarah Murdoch as owners of these stylish, colourful and attention-getting shoes.
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Fairfax & Roberts
Downtown Sydney is a hotspot for stand-out jewellers, comin' atcha like Cleopatra. Fairfax & Roberts is classy, classy, classy. A night at the opera?
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Faster Pussycat
Inspired by 'trash pop culture, hot rods and rock and roll' this cool cat coughs up clothing for all genders and ages (including baby punkwear) in several shades of Newtown black.
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Grandma Takes A Trip
We don't know where Granny's gone, but she sure left a crazy wardrobe behind her. So did Grandpa by the looks of things. This upmarket secondhand boutique has an attention-grabbing collection of freaky threads. Also at 79 Gould St, Bondi Beach.
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Helix
A magical Pandora's Box of vintage beads and unique local women's fashion awaits in this backstreet boutique. Everything's produced locally in Surry Hills and you needn't worry about some scrag showing up in the same frock; only a handful of each design is produced. Lead designer Lisa Stack hand makes her own silk screens.
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Holy Moley
You won't miss this one; its very-Newtown murals (Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver, a skeleton with a mohawk) are the first thing you see as you step out of the station. Inside it's all spunky punky T-shirts, baby-doll dresses and sexy lingerie.
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House Of Priscilla
Not only is Priscilla the queen of the desert, she also has her own boutique - not bad for a cinematic bus. Run by some of the city's leading drag artistes, Priscilla is the place for feathered angel wings and boas, naughty nurse outfits, wigs, thigh-high boots and sequinned frocks to fit front-row forwards. Very camp women also welcome.
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Kirrily Stores
A slice of Newtown in Balmain (and also at 175 Coogee Bay Rd, Coogee), Kirrily has casual cool women's wear that won't break the bank; a welcome change from the upmarket couturiers of the area.
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Kookaburra Kiosk
This small, long-running second-hand clothing store has some fab finds from the fashion archives. It concentrates on unique vintage pieces and manages to avoid that fabric-explosion atmosphere that plagues so many of these vintage shops. Sort through the sale racks out the front for bargains.
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Leona Edmiston
With two new stores in LA, Leona Edmiston clearly knows a thing or two about dresses. Her sassy designs have been described as exuberantly feminine, flirtatious and fun, cut from the best cottons, silks and jerseys in colours that range from luscious, sophisticated reds to pinstripes and polka dots.
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Love & Hatred
This plush, sensual, wood-panelled store is aglow with custom-made jewellery by Sydney designer Giovanni D'ercole. Beautiful sapphire rings, natural pearls and rose-gold pieces manifest an unostentatious, mystic blend of Celtic, Art Nouveau and contemporary styles.
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Marcs
Sydney's trendiest young hipsters flock to this streetwear-oriented shop to try on the high-quality jeans, chinos, sweaters, shirts and dresses. Search for the good stuff from Europe with labels like Paul Smith and Diesel, or ferret through the great youth label Baby Doll for hipsters, tiny T-shirts and denim jackets.
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Martin & Stein
Downtown Sydney is a hotspot for stand-out jewellers, comin' atcha like Cleopatra. Martin & Stein offers objects of virtue, antique jewellery and high security.
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Morrissey
One of Sydney's most recognised fashion identities, Peter Morrissey brings classic style and simplicity with a touch of sexy sparkle to his men's and women's ranges. Also at Westfield Bondi Junction .
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Mr Stinky
The Stinkmeister deals in groovy vintage gear for cool dudes and saucy babes. The range is wide, the prices reasonable, and the staff friendly and helpful - with no discernable odour.
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Nick Brown
If women have little black dresses as their essential fashion item, the men's equivalent should be the crisp cotton shirt. A new Nick Brown short-sleeve may well be the perfect accompaniment to a Sydney summer. He even does made-to-measure to perfectly showcase that worked-out torso.
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Nicola Finetti
Italian-born Nicola Finetti has been creating beautiful women's clothes in Sydney for around 20 years, offering elegant and feminine designs with a fashionable edge that never wander into the outlandish. Embroidered details, luxe fabrics and smart cutting all come together beautifully in the casual-to-eveningwear collection.
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Opal Fields
Award-winning jewellery designs incorporating Australia's famous stone are on offer at this fine store. Service is friendly and no-pressure; check out the specimen display case also. They have another store in the Queen Victoria Building.
