Wallpaper Magazine’s The Retail Directory 2012

Annual selection of the world’s chicest shops, plus a look at four rising fashion strips, from Berlin’s Mitte to Beijing’s Village North. Edited by Nick Vinson

Fashion Strip #3

Redchurch Street, London

Who’s around: APC, Aesop, Sunspel Strongly Tipped: Christian Louboutin, Vivienne Westwood, Ralph Lauren, Prada, Ian Schrager’s Public Hotel

Once the poorest district of Victorian London, Shoreditch has come a long way: its Redchurch Street is now being described as the Bond Street of the East. In the area, Terence Conran’s five-star Boundary Hotel and the members’ club Shoreditch House have been joined by boutiques, smart galleries, the new Shoreditch High Street tube station and Boxpark – shipping containers turned into ‘the world’s first small pop-up mall’.

Developers such as Derwent London, Hammerson, and Londonewcastle have announced big plans for Shoreditch too, the latter planning a mixed-use development. ‘Shoreditch is as exclusive as Mayfair these days,’ says Simon Rinder, of commercial estate agency Pilcher Hershman. ‘All the West End companies are moving here.’