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Kurt Geiger
Fashion, quality and affordability all come together at this superlative men's and women's shoe store, where footwear from the likes of Birkenstock, Chloé, Hugo Boss, Marc Jacobs, Paul Smith and United Nude adorns the shelves.
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Laden Showroooms
The unofficial flagship for the latest Hoxton street wear, Laden was 'London's best-kept secret', probably until the thrifty Victoria Beckham declared it as such and it was revealed that Pete Doherty shops here. Unlike many spartan übercool boutiques, it's stuffed to the gills with a wide variety and large quantity of women's and men's clobber, making it a perfect one-stop shop.
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Lulu Guinness
Female silhouettes, dice, board games and various other playful insignia grace her range of coin purses, cosmetic bags, handbags and totes, while some of her collectable evening bags come in striking shapes, such as fans. As Lulu inscribes her bags, it's 'handbags at dawn' girls.
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Matthew Williamson
Williamson is couturier to stars such as Sienna Miller, Keira Knightley, Kate Hudson and Joely Richardson; and even if you can't afford the around £800 dresses his 'boho deluxe' style is worth appreciating up close.
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Mulberry
Is there a woman in the world who doesn't covet a Mulberry bag? They are voluptuous, soft and a massive style statement. The brand followed in the footsteps of its other British design brethren, Burberry and Pringle, and modernised itself in recent years.
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No-One
Sitting inside the Old Shoreditch Station bar, No-one stocks Eley Kishimoto, Peter Jensen and new labels for women and men. It's all ultra-hip, with fashion magazines, quirky accessories and shoes.
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Ozwald Boateng
His flamboyance makes Boateng more a couturier than a tailor, with striking colours and fabrics in his £3000 bespoke suits.
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Past Caring
Stuffed full of secondhand retro bric-a-brac from ashtrays to curtain material, this shop is so removed from the modern world that it doesn't even have a phone number.
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Paul & Joe
Paul & Joe have such scrumptious clothes that it may be difficult to wrist-slap yourself and not spend hundreds of pounds on the frocks and cry until your next pay cheque (while looking fabulous, of course). The store itself is sexy and stylish and it feels like you've stumbled into someone's boudoir, with vintage dressing tables and glass cabinets. Their menswear is also sleek and stylish, so your beau won't feel bored.
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Paul Smith
Paul Smith represents the best of British classic with innovative twists in both his mens- and womenswear. For bargains, try the sale shop.
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Poste
Sitting on one of London's most fashionable streets, this very cool shop is aimed at boys who like good shoes, and stocks everything from vintage street labels to razor-sharp Italian imports.
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Poste Mistress
It's always worth buying something at this boudoir-like shoe store just to get your mitts on one of its delicately floral pale-pink bags. But stuffed with pastel wellies, plastic Crocs or shoes from Emma Hope, Vivienne Westwood, Miu Miu or Eley Kishimoto, that bag feels even more like Christmas.
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Primark
Turning out a much-wanted spotted summer dress and cheap cashmere cardigans has earned this discount clothes chain the nickname 'Primani'. Check the website for other branches.
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Pringle
Fabulously classy and somehow sexy at the same time (we're talking golfers' V-necks and knitted cardies), this trad-Brit brand turned slightly hip when London rekindled its passion for knitwear. An item will set you back at least around £150 , however.
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Rigby & Peller
This old-fashioned place makes the Queen's bras, but Rigby & Peller's fitting and alteration service - open to us plebs - is equally legendary. Get yourself measured - many a customer has been surprised to discover they've been wearing the wrong size for years. Off-the-peg underwear and swimwear is also available. There's also a Knightsbridge branch (3 Hans Rd; Knightsbridge).
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Shoon
With its eclectic, upmarket mix of active sportswear, African knick-knacks, travel books and shoes, this spacious store has broad appeal.
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Start
Punk rock and fashion meet in a boutique by Brix Smith, a cult rocker who loves girly clothes. (Smith is former guitarist with the Fall, one-time paramour of wild-child violinist Nigel Kennedy and now part of Start's husband-and-wife management.) Designer labels like Miu Miu and Helmut Lang dominate and Smith prides herself on her selection of flattering jeans. A menswear store (59 Rivington St) is over the road.
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Stella McCartney
Does Stella McCartney need introducing? Her floaty designs send many-a-girl's heart aflutter (as do her prices), Kate Moss makes her jeans the most covetable in the UK, and her 'ethical' approach to fashion is very of the moment. This three-storey terraced Victorian home is a temple to all things Stella - a ritzy glasshouse garden, an olde-worlde 'apothecary' selling perfume, vegetarian shoes and not-leather bags, plus bespoke tailoring. Depending on your devotion and wallet, you'll feel right at ease or like an intruder.
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Topshop & Topman
Topshop is the it-store when it comes to high-street shopping. Encapsulating London's supreme skill at bringing catwalk fashion to the youth market affordably and quickly, it constantly innovates by working with young designers and celebrities. Owner Philip Green famously (and controversially) paid Kate Moss around £3 m for a signature clothing line in 2007, a venture which proved so popular the crowds were queuing outside the Oxford Circus store at dawn on the day of the launch.
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Urban Outfitters
Probably the trendiest of all chains, this cool American store serves both men and women and has the best young designer T-shirts, an excellent designer area (stocking Paul & Joe Sister, Hussain Chalayan, See by Chloé, among others), 'renewed' secondhand pieces, saucy underwear, silly homewares and quirky gadgets. There are also a Covent Garden branch and a Kensington branch.
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Vivienne Westwood
The ex-punk who dressed the punks and created the punk look now says that 'fashion is boring' and that she disagrees with everything she used to say. Always a controversial character with a reputation for being a bit barmy (she flashed her privates to the paparazzi after receiving her OBE), Ms Westwood is, thankfully, still designing clothes as bold, innovative and provocative as ever, featuring 19th-century-inspired bustiers, wedge shoes and loads of tartan.
