Florentin

Florentin is a little clothes shop in the Lanes, and provides a variety of items for men and women. The general décor and the items scream out second-​hand store, but all of these are actually originals. The tastelessness is frightening at first, but pleasantly anti-​style after a little look. If you’re looking for that one item, that strange piece that will just zing, here’s the place to start.
The selection really has to be seen: the items in this place are such a peculiar mix of off-​key and just plain strange, and yet they are made to a very high quality. These are clearly meant to be designer pieces (the prices are certainly designer), but the only areas I’ve really looked into are their sale sections. The reductions are huge, so I can only assume that my style-​sense is tingling correctly and these pieces are not worth their full price.
Still, the sale racks are worth looking at. The reductions are pretty huge, and you may just find that item that is just so Brighton and so you, all at the same time. The shop is quite small: don’t be surprised if you don’t find anything on your first visit, but do come back and look again: the turnover seems remarkably high for stuff this garish and strange. Have a look!

Maybe I caught this place on a good say, but I couldn’t believe the value of some of the designer clothes in here! Replete with plenty of trendy items (and a no bags downstairs policy) Florentin is the quintessential, upmarket Brighton clothes store. While Dirty Harry’s and To Be Worn Again are rocking the second hand world, Florentin stocks one of a kind items that are brand new and immensely stylish. If you can’t get it in your size, you’ll have to hang your head and sigh. The jacket I picked up was marked down from the £100+ mark to (get this) £25! I was ecstatic, as not only did it look uniquely amazing, but it smelt fantastic, and think that the fact I can’t do it up its so small just makes it that bit more awesome!
Anyway… enough rambling about that, Florentin stocks caters for all audiences with a mix of men and women’s clothing and accessories. You can find bags and shoes as well as immense jackets, and while the slightly haphazard layout may irritate some, it makes it a great place to do some window shopping, and maybe walk away with a great buy if you’re lucky.

The first things I noticed upon entering Florentin (other than the delicious smell! It could have been a bakery…) were the douvet slippers in a basket on the floor. I immediately wanted to put them on and curl up in front of a fireplace somewhere. They were the cosiest things I’ve ever seen.
Other slippers — the knit variety — were close by, but the majority of things on display on the ground floor were stuffed animals in various genres. The best was the large deer head mounted on the wall — a tongue-​in-​cheek approach to taking the violence out of such images.
The basement contained clothing — mostly skirts and dressier tops — with sale items left for the far, back room. In here were cheaper articles of clothing and a few stragglers on shelves. I was confused by the knit egg-cosies…I think mine are doing alright in the carton.