Still loving Brick lane in 2009?

As the 1st day of 2009 draws to a close, most of us have entered the year with hopes, dreams and wishes that we hope to fulfill over the year. New Year resolutions have been made, alcohol has been sworn off, finding the love of your life has been wished upon by nearly every singleton (including you boys too), and all sins of 2008 forgotten. So why not start the year with our best fashion foot forward and let me be the first to confirm that as fashion evolves in 2009 Brick Lane will continue to be the place to find fashion treasures of all types...

Brick Lane possesses that rare quality of being able to mingle age- old tradition (Jewish and Bengali Settlers) with new and stylish fancies. It is a diverse community, which has, and continues to play, an intricate part in Brick Lane’s fashionable rise up into the world of fashion.

Brick Lane fashion landmarks are two Rockit shops. The bigger of the two stock men and women's vintage and the other one only stocks women's wear that are more feminine and frilly and ideal for SJP wannabes. In between them, is The Laden Showroom, which sells young London designers along with a range of accessories. This place is a great for Celeb copycats because the entire clothes rail is a picture of a celebrity who owns that garment. Thus be on the lookout for Cat Deeley tops, Beckhams’ baseball caps and Kylie mini skirts.The aptly titled Public

Beware on Dray Walk sells collections by a team of Japanese Designers who make exclusive women's clothing and shoes. Once you enter, beware, as you will leave armed with the funkiest robes in town but also with a much lighter back pocket. Around the corner on Hanbury Street is Absolute Vintage, who among their wider range of clothing and accessories, stock over 1000 pairs of vintage shoes.

Let's not also forget the designer sample sales that take place in Brick Lane. The best being 'Fashion Car Booty Sale'. It hosted an exhibition of artists work in converted cars alongside a sample sale consisting of Fashion East designers such as PPQ, Zakee Sharif and labels such as Jens Laugesen, Markus Lupfer, Blaak and House of Jazz.For the more financially blessed, great shops are only a Prada purse throw away. These include Beyond Retro on Cheshire Street, a warehouse with the biggest stock of vintage fashion in the area and Max M's shop that sells designer sunglasses from the 80's alongside one-off designer pieces and jewellery. Max also has a warehouse around the corner, which sells only vintage clothing at affordable prices.

So in 2009 is the new chic still going to be Brick Lane instead of Bond Street? If you were to ask any dedicated Fashionista, they will tell you that they were already aware of Brick Lane's existence long before the fashion world came knocking and looking for the raw and individual talent that Brick Lane is now synonymous for!

Champagnista M