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www.couturelab.com Created by the same people who founded the hugely successful netaporter site, this includes fashion, decor…

www.couturelab.com Created by the same people who founded the hugely successful netaporter site, this includes fashion, decor, interiors, travel and childrenswear, aimed at those with high purchasing power who want exclusivity. Presented like an upmarket glossy magazine.

www.toast.co.uk From Anatolian bath robes to shearling coats, Toast covers daywear, nightwear, accessories, food and home furnishings. Browsing through their lovely lifestyle catalogues is holiday armchair travel, given there is a different world location for their collections each season. Prices quoted are in sterling.

www.unicahome.com Giant US website with some 20,000 products for home and office, providing everything from stocking stuffers to furniture and furnishings. Current offerings include Philippe Starck T-shirts and a newspaper shirt.

www.doverstreetmarket.co.uk The most innovate retail concept, located in the heart of London's Mayfair, has a website that gives a flavour of its avant-garde approach to clothing, accessories and interiors in both choice and presentation.

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www.netaporter.com The site that made Natalie Massenet a millionaire, offering her selection of the season's key fashion items. It is notable for beautiful presentation and packaging. Vogue-like layout ensures it's more than just a list of dry goods.

www.fuk.co.uk A lively UK website, upbeat and youthful offering news, features, photos and videos along with a newsy editor's blog, competitions and opportunities to buy clothes and accessories.

www.colette.fr This cult shop is now an established Paris attraction and the website conveys some of the reasons why its eclectic approach to retailing makes it one of the most visited places during Paris fashion week when hordes of stylists gather outside as if waiting for something to happen. Tourist buses are now stopping on the Rue St-Honoré to allow passengers to stare into its windows.

Deirdre McQuillan

Deirdre McQuillan

Deirdre McQuillan is Irish Times Fashion Editor, a freelance feature writer and an author