SKINNY selections

Choice items

While certain looks come and go, sometimes all that's needed to make an outfit is one outstanding item. This is where independent shops come in: with rare or even unique lines, stock chosen through personal passion, and a friendly environment suited to casual shopping, looking for the best statement pieces becomes an easy-going pleasure. Scotland is blessed with a great selection of indie clothes shops, and the best thing to do is to get out and browse for the things that catch your own eye. Still, we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't pick out a couple of items we thought deserving of special mention...

This beautiful brown and black floral sun dress with satin trim (Totty Rocks, £159) is sure to add a touch of class to your summer wardrobe, but with its more subdued hues should work well if introduced early as part of a spring layers look.
Totty Rocks, 40 Victoria St, Edinburgh
www.tottyrocks.co.uk

Perfect for posing without blaring, or showing up at the gym with your sense of irony intact, is this ghetto blaster weekend bag (Swish, £35). No gimmick this, the bag is large and hard-wearing - so expect to turn heads on years' worth of weekends away.
Swish, 22-24 Victoria Street, Edinburgh
www.swishonthe.com

Top stores

The shop The Skinny has been most excited about recently is Goodlife, opened recently on West Nile Street in Glasgow. With a philosophy that aims to combine streetwear with high-end couture, their commitment has seen them seek out limited edition ranges from London and Japan (in fact Goodlife is the only store in Britain where you can get a number of their lines). With major fashion superstores like Harvey Nichols now firmly established in Scotland, it's innovative set-ups like Goodlife that will make sure the nation continues to be that bit different and imaginative, that bit more exciting.

Goodlife, 134 West Nile Street, Glasgow
0141 333 0095

To a more established Scottish set-up, hats off go to Xile, recently announced as the Young Fashion Independent Retailer of the Year at the 2007 Drapers Awards. To finalise for these prestigious UK-wide awards is an achievement in itself, to win is a real coup for the Edinburgh-based Xile. Their strengths were demonstrated to be excellent general knowledge about the wide range of brands they stock, and an impressive rate of staff retention (many have been with the company for over ten years, since the company's foundation in 1991). More impressive still is that this success comes right after the company's recent win at the Scottish Retail Awards, where Xile scooped the award for Independent Retailer of the Year. Nice work indeed. Why not head down to their January sale and see what all the acclaim is for?

Xile, Princes Mall and Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh
www.xileclothing.com