This past weekend we went on an Urban Tour for ASOS and explored the “Kreuzkölln” of London: The East End, including Shoreditch, Hackney and – most importantly – Brick Lane. This small but famous street and its surrounding sidestreets and alleys are known and loved for its numerous vintage shops, fleamarkets, urban art galleries, famous street art sights, curry houses, as well as for its multi-cultural inhabitants, young creatives, fashionistas and hip tourists.
On a sunny day we wandered around the area taking photos of the most interesting things. We found charming little cafes, the work of familiar street artists, cool fashion boutiques and much more. Come follow us on our photo tour with many recommendations after the jump.
Our lovely hotel in Shoreditch has a gorgeous view over the city and the most delicious traditional English breakfast.
London Fashion Week is going on right now and even though most events happening in the area of Covent Garden, there still are a few things that made their way to the East End, such as the temporary showroom of bag designer Larissa Hadjio and her diamond and fish leather bags.
Aubin & Mills is not only a fashion store, it’s also a cinema for independant films and a gallery for urban art. A simple clothing store is obviously not enough for the creative scene of the East End.
Post-modern people will get their homewares at Labour And Wait.
The Print Club London offers a big variety of art prints from graphic designers, illustrators and street artists in their little basement gallery.
On my last visit to London a year ago I must have missed the small avant-garde boutique 127 at 127 Brick Lane because it has been around for almost 5 years now. Between Rick Owens, Gareth Pugh and Margiella you will also find upcoming young designers there. I was very happy to see the extravagant Berlin-based accessorie label Moga e Mago there.
Back in Berlin we just saw a solo exhibition of street artist ROA. We were very happy to find a couple of his amazing animal murals on the brick walls of Hackney.
The colorful and exotic street sculptures by Cityzen Kane are the most precious pieces of street art to be found on Brick Lane.
The Albion at the Boundary is a bakery, cafe, food store and restaurant in one place offering typical English dishes for a relatively low price.
On the weekend – specifically on Sunday – you will find a lot of African and Asian food stands on Brick Lane that are really hard to resist.
As a hip person of the East End you can only truly be at whole with yourself if you own a vintage analogue camera.
The Sunday (Up)Market at the Old Truman Brewery is something you should not miss out on. The mix of self-made design, selected vintage treasures, cute print shirts and quirky little products is really unique.
It is absolutely fascinating how cupcakes still make the people explode in joy when they see them.
