Going Local: Mischa Barton

Mischa Barton in front of her new London boutique

Marcus Dawes

BEST DEPARTMENT STORE
LIBERTY
I love Liberty. I’m obsessed with Liberty; I can’t get it out of my head. Everything about it works; the design, the products. It’s just perfect. It never gets old. My mother and I shop there and I can’t see us ever tiring of the place. I buy everything there - jewellery, clothes, perfume, make-up, flowers. It’s like my heaven. It’s expensive but it’s great for gifts and everything they do, they do with such class and English polish. It’s just the best.
Regent Street, London, W1B 5AH (tel: (020) 7734 1234; www.liberty.co.uk)

BEST BOUTIQUE
MISCHA’S PLACE
I’m biased but I love this store as it’s my first UK boutique and it’s full of the sort of fashion that I love. It’s been a labour of love and my first collection has been inspired by so many things in my life; from books I’m reading to movies I see, to architecture I love and everyday things that catch my eye. I’ve tried to incorporate everything, and with the help of my mum, we’ve created a Biba-esque line that mixes classic and cool and hopefully comes up with an eclectic mix that appeals to a wide audience.
53 Brushfield Street, London E1 6AA (tel: (020) 3302 0515; www.mischasplace.com)

BEST HIGH STREET STORE
TOP SHOP
If I’m looking for basics and easy things to wear and every day clothes around the house I’m happy to shop on the high street and the first place I go when I’m in central London is Top Shop at Oxford Circus. It’s gigantic, it’s got anything you can possibly imagine under one roof and I’ve loved it for years. I think it’s genius and I was so upset when they brought it to New York a few years ago. I used to love the fact that you couldn’t get it in America.
381 Oxford Street, London, W1C 2JS. (tel: (020) 7495 6282; www.topshop.com)

BEST MARKET
SPITALFIELDS
I’m a big fan of London’s markets but my favourite right now is Spitalfields, right around the corner from my boutique. I like the fact there is so much variety. There are all these little independent stores, there’s barbers, there’s cafés and I like a mixture of old and new in terms of products and architecture and Spitalfields has got that now. You can wander from shop to shop and the restaurants are great. If I’m down here for my store - which I am all the time now - I tend to eat dinner in Galvin’s, but even before my store, I’d visit a lot as it’s only four blocks to Shoreditch and it’s on the way to Canary Wharf where my sister lives.
1 Crispin Place, Spitalfields, London E1 6DW (tel: (020) 7375 2963; www.spitalfields.co.uk)

BEST DESIGNER STORE
CHANEL
I’ve always been a Chanel obsessive and I’ve worn some incredible Chanel dresses over the years. If I have to spend money on anything designer, I’d still always spend it on Chanel. I love it because it’s classic 1960s black and white stuff, like the sort of clothes my mum used to wear, and if I could come back and live in any other era in terms of fashion, it would definitely be London in the 1960s and 70s.
167-169 Sloane Street, London SW1X 9QF (tel: (020) 7235 6631; www.chanel.com)