Dedicated followers of fashion • July 2016
How to spend 24 hours on Carnaby Street
The street at the heart of swinging sixties culture is still cool, more than half a century later. Now expanded to cover 13 streets, the area is packed with quirky shops and one-of-a-kind bars and restaurants. The Club’s Hannah Hudson spends a day exploring
Good morning, sunshine
Power up for the day with a punchy espresso from indie favourite Department of Coffee and Social Affairs, before sauntering over to Hawaiian eaterie Kua ’Aina for breakfast. Its Aloha special features the usual Full English ingredients, grilled on traditional volcanic lava rocks for extra flavour.
Cameras at the ready
Make like sixties scene snapper David Bailey and head to Lomography’s Gallery Store in the Newburgh Quarter. Here you can pick up cameras, lenses and film, attend talks and meet with other photography fans. Develop your photographic eye by filling a roll of old-school film and getting it developed at the Lomo Lab.
Mid-morning pit stop
Take a break from trekking the streets to put your feet up. Benefit offers express manicures and blow-dries (which come with a complimentary glass of fizz). Gentlemen should head to Johnny’s Chop Shop (above), an American-style barbershop with a rockabilly twist, for a beard trim or classic shave.
Refuel
Discover why everyone’s talking about Peruvian cuisine with a visit to Señor Ceviche. (It takes its design inspiration from the graffiti of Lima’s party district, Barranco.) Try the sea bream and octopus ceviche, sweet potato and aubergine doughnuts, and the papaya-marinated steak.
Hit the shops
Dr Martens (pictured above) never go out of style, and the Carnaby flagship store is the only place offering a bespoke boot service. Choose from a range of leathers, eyelets, laces and more to create your own DMs (from £325). David Beckham, Sam Smith and blogger @susiebubble are all fans. From here, go straight to Japanese sportswear store Descente and make a beeline for its innovative, origami-inspired down jackets.
Afternoon pick-me-up
Flagging? The Bar Du Chocolat at Choccywoccydoodah is the place to go for a decadent, 72 per cent dark hot chocolate.
The evening starts here
At MAC, you can update your make-up bag and freshen up at the same time. Serious cosmetic fans will enjoy the upstairs ‘pro area’, while downstairs is the place for enthusiastic amateurs to have a play. The store is open until 7pm, and the staff will even apply your new fake eyelashes for you before you leave.
Bottoms up!
Order a rebujito (a fino sherry spritzer from Andalucia) at Shotgun’s New Orleans-style cocktail lounge (above), before heading on to Ain’t Nothing But. The smooth jazz keeps the regulars coming back, and if you visit mid-week, you can even take part in a jam session.
Find the after-party
Visit Cahoots for post-dinner drinks. This vintage Tube-themed bar (housed in a former air raid shelter) has a quirky eight-page cocktail menu and a fun playlist of swing and Lindy hop. It’s open until 3am on Saturdays, so you can jitterbug ’til you drop.
Can’t sleep?
The Carnaby Echoes app provides a free, 40-minute self-guided walking tour, revealing Carnaby’s lesser-known music and fashion stories from the past century. Go after dark to take advantage of the quieter, streetlamp-lit streets to discover the site of Jimi Hendrix’s favourite hangout and see where David Bowie had his suits made.
This article has been tagged Fashion + Style, Destination