Website: www.brownsfashion.com

Mrs Joan Burstein, shown on the left, is Browns. She was born in 1928. During World War II in London, she met streetwise East-Ender Sidney Brown. They clicked, married in 1946 and set up Neatwear, an underwear shop. It became successful, then crashed. Together with Sidney's brother, they bought Feathers in Kensington High Street, and then in 1970 bought a shop called Browns, on South Molton Street, London.

Mrs Burstein started selling designer clothing, first Sonia Rykiel, Daniel Hechter and Missoni. She later gave many designer labels their London debut - Calvin Klein, Azzedine Alaia, Comme des Garcons, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and more recently Tocca.

In fact Sonia Rykiel became part of her family, because Mrs. Burstein's son Simon married Sonia Rykiel's daughter.

She is particularly famous for taking a risk and putting John Galliano's graduation collection into Browns. She says "we sold every piece."

Mrs Burstein is a front row fixture at all the international fashion shows, and snaps up many designers, selecting the best of the best.

In 1992, she wanted to re-energize her business and found inspiration in her daughter Caroline Burstein Collis. They started Browns Focus, a store within a store. Browns Focus is now the first stop for any trend detectors arriving in London.

Browns Bride

Mrs Burstein and her daughter Caroline have now opened a new Browns, Browns Bride. This will have all the glorious wedding gowns from designers around the world, available to London customers, as well as some of the quirky ideas of brides for unorthodox wedding dresses like an ivory slip dress with a beaded cardigan. If you are planning to get married, look no further.

Indian designer wear

Sabayaschi Mukherjee is India's current fashion wonderboy. He showed a collection during Milan Fashion Week this season, which subsequently sold out to Brown's in London.

2004