It can be a bit embarrassing says manager Steve Montgomery when a bunch of friends are jiggling about and I'm trying

"It can be a bit embarrassing," says manager Steve Montgomery, "when a bunch of friends are jiggling about and I'm trying to look after a customer, but it's all part of the scene, really."This synergy of shopping and socialising is at the heart of boutique philosophy. Rachel Makinson, manager of Covent Garden's Pop Boutique, deliberately encourages a laid-back party atmosphere "Pop Boutique is totally relaxed and friendly. We have mates permanently coming in for a gossip and a flick through the rails."Pop Boutique is a vintage clothes shop that has eschewed the Granny's Attic look and gone back to original Sixties interiors. It's a place where Noel Gallagher, REM and Paul Weller shop for their stage clothes.

Last week, the shop celebrated its first birthday with a party for regular customers and friends ("One and the same thing," claims Makinson). In the perfect boutique combination of business and pleasure, everyone got a glass of wine and 10 per cent off.. WORLD 27 Litchfield Street, London WC2, tel 0171 379 5588 Ethnic treasures crowd this tiny boutique. The fashion cognoscenti come for unique pieces like Anita Pallenberg's Barbarella T-shirts, Malcolm McLaren samples and hiplabels Door Dog and World.AGENT PROVOCATEUR 6Broadwick Street, London W1, tel 0171 439 0229A heady cocktail of marabou-trim slippers,delicate chiffon slips and feathered tiaras. A boudoir atmosphere pervades, with Dali's sinuous Mae West lips sofa and grand swags ofvelvet enclosing thechanging rooms. Devotees include Madonna, Naomi Campbell and Jerry Hall.SHOP 4 Brewer Street, London W1, tel 0171 437 1259Hip New York labels Tocca, X Girl, Hysteric Glamour and Sophia Coppola's Milk Fed attract girls who want to have fun. Shop could reel off a list of supermodels, It girls and rock chicks who pop in for their Tocca but name-dropping is not their style.DANIEL POOLE/ROX 49 Old Compton Street, London W1,tel 0171 287 0666Combined clothes shop and hairdresser.

Cigarettes are smoked, wine is sipped and gossip is exchanged over a browse round Poole'scutting-edge club wear.POP BOUTIQUE 6 Monmouth Street, London WC2,tel 0171 497 5262Students flock here forFifties, Sixties and Seventies fashions. Vintage hipsters could have easily stepped off the catwalk at McQueen and the psychedelic print shirts could pass for this season's Prada.KOH SAMUI 65 Monmouth Street, London WC2,tel 0171 240 4280Owners Paul Sexton andTalita Zoe are champions of British design talent, selling innovative, ground-breaking and unique pieces. Names Koh Samui supported and still stock include FabioPiras, Clements Ribeiro and Abe Hamilton.. After the hair shirt, the hair skirt. These 10ft-tall artworks by Emily Bates are made of the sweepings from women's hairdressers in Glasgow. She scoops the damp hair off the floor - any strands over two inches long will do - spins it on an old-fashioned spinning wheel, knits the bodices by hand and the rest by machine. Then, she shows the disbelieving hairdressers photographs of what has become of their customers' crowning glory.