1. Das boot This might be news to you, but Dr Martens was actually German and not, as many people assume, a cheeky cockney. The good doctor invented the boots we all know and love after injuring himself on a skiing holiday while on a break from the second world war. After failing to monetise his boot post-conflict, he sold the patents to a rather enterprising British company, who added the famous yellow stitching, came up with the Airwair brand and Bob's your mother's brother, created a youth culture icon. Take that Germany! Dr Martens is still making the classic boots, but these days it also does rather more avant-garde fair. We're quite taken with the Styrene waxed-canvas 12-eyelet number (top; HK$1,699) and the Logic shoe (bottom; HK$1,079), which is sure to be popular in Japan and with fans of The Cure. Dr Martens is in Hysan Place, Causeway Bay, tel: 2892 1832.
2. Andy kap Sometimes when you know what's cool, what looks good and what works, you may as well as just make it yourself. That's what the guys at Kapok, Hong Kong's hipster emporium, have started doing: creating a line of clothes and accessories that finds favour with the city's most discerning arbiters of taste; themselves. We like the Japanese street style six-panel peaked caps (all HK$480) that come in a variety of colours and patterns, some with and some without the new Kapok insignia. Kapok is at 5 St Francis Yard, Wan Chai, tel: 2549 9254.
3. Another Dre, another dollar From one doctor who couldn't monetise his product to another who clearly has a knack for it, we are, of course, talking about Dr Dre, who these days is spending less time in the studio and more of it stacking the paper (slang for "counting money" - we're hip, innit) from his Beats by Dre line of audio products. Loud, brash and perhaps a bit gimmicky, one thing you can't deny is that the sound on Beats headphones is top quality. These days Beats is doing special editions such as the lucky Year of The Horse Solo headphones (top; HK$1,800), but if you're not one for superstition then there's plenty of other colourful options to choose from in the aptly named Drenched in Color line (all HK$1,800), our favourite of which is the purple set (bottom). Beats by Dre is available at HMV, iSquare, 63 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, tel: 2302 0122.
