Source:
https://scmp.com/article/558422/newbury-street-boston

Newbury Street, Boston

The eight blocks of Newbury Street in chic Back Bay are Boston's Fifth Avenue with a funky twist. Shop the length of the street and you move from swank to stylish grunge. Newbury Street is the playground of Boston's well-heeled and its wannabes, and home to 19th-century brownstones that house shops, cafes and private residences behind bay windows, flower boxes and colourful awnings. It's anchored at one end by the Ritz-Carlton hotel (the first in the US) and at the other end by more offbeat venues such as Newbury Comics (No332; www.newburycomics.com) purveyor of vintage comics and action figure collectibles.

The most interesting thing about Newbury is its selection of hidden speciality boutiques, whose prices range from affordable to outrageous. Whim (No253; www.whimboston.com), a small boutique crammed with women's clothing, offers one-of-a-kind pieces from young designers in London, New York, Paris and Milan. Imagination and colour gone wild aren't cheap though, with pieces such as a Barbara Bui (France) silk kimono-style blouse costing US$450. A hand-beaded and embroidered silk dress from London's Megan Park goes for US$1,000.

At the other end of the spectrum is quirky Life Is Good (No285; www.lifeisgood.com), a shop with a line of casual clothes that have a message of optimism. Big leather club chairs and a bluegrass soundtrack make the store feel more summer cottage or university dorm than Newbury boutique. It's packed with colourful sweatshirts, shorts, T-shirts and baseball caps made of slouchy fabrics and emblazoned with the Life Is Good motto and cartoon characters. The store makes life a little better for children with disabilities by donating a portion of its profits to charity.

For more stylish headwear, Toppers (above and right; No230, tel: 1 617 859 1430) fits the bill with a range of original, traffic-stopping hats. Boston is a hat-wearing kind of town and Toppers has the headgear for Bostonians' favourite destinations: garden parties, beaches and the Kentucky Derby. Hundreds of hats, in wool or satin, with feathers or sparkles, hang on the walls, tumble out of baskets and drawers and adorn the heads of vintage mannequins. A snakeskin wide brim is yours for US$275.

In addition to the street's high-end shoe emporia, there's trendy Thom Brown (No331, tel: 1 617 266 8722), a destination for guilt-free fashionistas to indulge their shoe fetishes at bargain prices. The shelves glitter with fancy footwear, from E and R Generation's strappy gold, jewelled stilettos (US$79.99) to Naughty Monkey's metallic bronze leather and rhinestone flip-flops (US$69.99).

Need the perfect purse? There's always Kate Spade (No117, tel: 1 617 262 2632) but for a unique clutch, handbag or tote, design your own at 1154 Lill Studio (No220, tel: 1 617 247 1154). Pick a style, choose from dozens of gorgeous fabrics and trims, and voila! Not just a tote-worthy - but a noteworthy - bag, from US$25 to US$150.