Our hometown and its best kept secrets....

As some of you may or may not know we are based along the south coast and although a lot of our work is in London, we are very lucky to be based in an area full of hidden fashion gems and gorgeous boutiques. The towns nearest to us including Bournemouth, Winchester and Salisbury are great for everything from high street to vintage shopping.

There are some great little fashion boutiques near us including one of our favourites Little London in Winchester, who also have stores in Chichester, Guildford and Tunbridge wells. They also have an online site so check them out at http://www.little-london.com/, where they have introduced some amazing Lucas Jack jewellery, like this stunning gold sandstone cuff which also comes in Royal Blue and Blue Chalc.

We also love Vintage Clobber, a vintage store in Bournemouth which some of the girls regularly visit to pick up some stunning one off pieces that have all of us talking the next day. We also use it to source great items for use in photoshoots. It’s a real place to have a rummage and you’re bound to find something great. Check out their website at http://vintageclobber.com/everyday_1.html.

As well as boutiques, we have some great high streets and shopping centres around. In Bournemouth there are some great shops including 3 department stores; Beales, House of Fraser and Debenhams. Beales Bournemouth was the first ever Beales to open and therefore has a wealth of history to it as well as a number of brands on sale. They have recently had a re-fit and now have a large MAC store with many talented make-up artists who also work at London Fashion Week. There is also Wesy Quay in Southampton which has around a hundred shops and Castlepoint near Bournemouth which boasts larger stores of many retailers.

But it’s not just the shopping that makes our area an exciting one to live in. There is so much going on in Bournemouth including a huge surf scene with the new surf reef being opened at Boscombe beach earlier this year as well as a huge amount of nightlife and a big burlesque scene, for example shows by our favourite local burlesque dancer Miss Cherry-Pop. The wealth of shops around Bournemouth cater to these interest with many shops selling surf gear such as Sorted surf shop on Boscombe front who also do surfing lessons.

Lastly, The Arts University College Bournemouth are improving every year and becoming a well known institute for Fashion design. This year their students won three awards and the work looked absolutely fab!

So if you thought that the south coast was a place for people to retire, think again.

Love Katie x