Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
one - off shops you won't find anywhere else |
| Disadvantages: |
commercial crap in between, not what it was ! |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
Austin Powers has a lot to answer for. According to him, Carnaby Street was the swinging sixties place to be seen, a pyschadelic shopping mecca full of funky boutiques selling Pucci prints and Mary Quant minis, Biba bib-front dresses and Paco Rabanne perspex jewellery. If you're expecting that now, you may feel a bit let down when you do get there. There's no psychadelia, no Union Jack topped VW beetles and no zebra crossings. Carnaby Street is in fact a relatively small pedestrian zone nestled behind Liberty, and running parallel with Regent Street in the heart of
London.
Once you get over the fact it's only about 100m long, you realise Carnaby Street does maintain some of that funky, trendy charm that it had in the 60s. It's the slightly less crowded alternative to Covent Garden, a street lined with funky boutique-like specialist shops for trendy young things (and people seeking gifts). There's also a Boots and a Pret a Manger. Well, you can't have everything.
Over the last few months, a lot of new shops have opened on the street, which I'll go into more detail about in a second. Most of the shops are aimed at quite a young, trendy clientelle - there's sport, surf (ONeil) and skate (Vans) shops, as well as trendy trainer specialist 'Size', Spanish fashion brand Miss Sixty, and more besides. Here are some of my favourite Carnaby Street finds besides the ones I just mentioned.
OCTOPUS: This is a great little shop if you're really stuck for a gift. It's very small, but has a nice selection of unique gifty things like mousemats, mugs, handbags, piggybanks and gimmicky objects for those really tricky people who have everything, especially young women. Prices vary in here - most of the shops on Carnaby Street are mid-priced rather than cheap, but it's definitely worth a look if you want something unique that you can't buy on the High Street.
STORM: Need a watch? Don't want to get it from Elizabeth Duke at Argos? Go here! Storm watches tend to be silver, shiny and around the £60 - £100 mark. They were the people responsible for the big trends of stretchy metal wristband watches with coloured faces what seems like many moons ago. They still make great, funky pieces for young women who don't want a classic watch. That'd be me, then.
LUSH: Natural, organic beauty products that smell divine, work a treat, aren't tested on animals and aren't packaged in 8 yards of cellophane and the equivalent of 6 trees worth of paper. I've done a review on Lush, as well as a review on most of their products, so I won't go too far with this, except to say this is my favourite Lush shop in the whole country, and I've been to a LOT. You won't find nicer staff anywhere. Well except at....
B NEVER TOO BUSY TO BE BEAUTIFUL: This is a parfumerie and make-up shop from the same people who brought the world Lush. That alone was enough to drag me in the day it opened! Walking in transports you into a gorgeous, overdone girlie dressing room. he wallpaper is floral, the mirrors are gilt, the whole place screams 'feminine'. But that's the beauty of it. Here you can buy gorgeous, old-fashioned fragrances that smell of yummy things like apple pie, jasmine, rose, blackcurrants and flowers (not all together) as well as really great make-up that's packaged so it looks like it's from a market in Morocco (all beads, enamel and mirrors) and treats for your bath and body along the same lines as Lush. It is pricey, but it's worth it. If you're having a bad day go on, get a make-over from one of the lovely staff member and leave with a Love Apple (£3) for a long, relaxing bath that night. Bliss
DAVID AND GOLIATH: I only found this today, and did a nice yelp in the middle of the street. it's a brand new flagship London store from a very funky new American design team who produce t-shirts, underwear and accessories bearing classic slogans like 'Mullets Get Chick' and 'Boys Are Smelly'. My personal fave is the underwear set that reads 'Boys Are Stupid, Throw Rocks At Them' (I have it, actually). Before this opened, the only place you could get hold of David & Goliath gear (at bumped up prices) was House of Fraser, Legends stores or online, so this is fab news if you live in London and love their tongue in cheek tees.
Once you're bored of what the street itself has to offer (try to go around Christmas, the oversized fairy lights (and I MEAN oversized) are worth the trip alone), off Carnaby Street are loads of side streets to explore, as well as the home of the national magazine company. Among the other shops in the area are Pixi (great young make-up line), a fantastic movie memorabelia store, specialising in original posters (expensive, but great gifts for movie-buffs) and then there's the black & white landmark Liberty store, where you
can buy gorgeous designer candles from Galliano and co, and coo over dresses that cost more than your monthly mortgage. Well, girl can dream.....
