Balenciaga and Bagels on Brick Lane By Ellen Grace Jones

 East London’s markets on a Sunday have been something of a destination for quite some time now for the thrifty-yet-savvy-hipsters-in-the-know; but that one-off vintage gem isn’t the only item you’ll find anymore. As a local, I trundle up and down daily and it seems like not a week goes by without some new chi-chi store popping up. My once gloriously shabby-chic home is now mutating into a boutique-chic parade of emporia; becoming increasingly more like, dare I suggest, P*rtob*llo.

Yet this metamorphosis extends beyond the cobbled stretch of Brick Lane. Round the corner at recently regenerated Spitalfields Market the charmingly idiosyncratic clothing stalls find themselves in the minority amid a sterile throng of bland, identikit, new shopping units along adjacent Brushfield Street.

But Brick Lane has long had a heritage of cultural evolution and I cannot despair, nor be surprised at the steady influx of boutiques. In fact, the rag trade has been around here for centuries. Around the late 1800’s silk-weaving Huguenots arrived from France; the echoes of their looms rattling noisily around streets of E1 (next time you take a stroll down, keep your eyes peeled for the old cast-iron drain covers bearing silk-reel and scissor detailing).

So is the area losing its soul? Hmmm In a word, no. As much as I lament over the ever-increasing prices, and often homogenous nature of new shops, I cannot think of any other road in London where in a stones throw of a group of teens pitching their own clothes stall you can buy Helmut Lang at number 127.

Skip along a few meters and sample kooky handpicked vintage, a bit further; some obscure Mongolian knitwear. New independent designers are given a leg-up at the Laden Showroom which sits contentedly nearby new clothing and treasure trove boutique, Luna & Curious. And in truth, the introduction of luxe brands only extends the exciting gap of the cultural, sartorial diversity.  But most importantly, of course, it’s still my home. And did I even mention the curries?

By Ellen Grace Jones www.myspace.com/ellengracejones