Where to SHOP in Sydney

'Be daring. Be different. Be impractical. Be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers. The creatures of the commonplace. The slaves of the ordinary.'

1. Queen Victoria Building

White chiffon blazer: 3.1 Phillip Lim. Blue shirt: Ralph Lauren. White jeans: Zara.

Queen Victoria Building is by far my favourite place to just stroll around, have a macaron, do some window shopping and just generally have a lazy hazy day. The building itself is extraordinarily beautiful, I love the never-ending vertical space and how the natural light bathes the entire complex given that they have glass ceilings.

Now onto my favourite shop, The Art of Dr Seuss! It is located on the top floor, and you can buy prints of the original artwork with the lowest price starting from a few hundred. I grew up reading the collection! I actually wanted to buy the red and white striped hat lamp, but apparently it's not for sale.

Another shop that I really enjoyed was The Antique Print Room, also located on the top floor!

On the ground floor, you can find Ralph Lauren, several fresh fruit juice bars, and, drum roll, Adriano Zumbo! Their macarons are heavenly, crispy to the point of flakey on the outside; as soon as you dig in and bite into one, the light fluffy centre melts in your mouth. I highly recommend their salted caramel on toast flavour!

If you go underground into the basement of QVB, the experience is akin to trying to cross a road in Shinjuku. Getting from one side to the opposite side feels like wading through a school of fish, there is just a stampede of people, all the time!

2. The Strand Arcade

Wander into a world of antique sweet shops and hats galore, my favourite shop was The Strand Hatters. It completely had nothing to do with the dashing store owner who explained about and let me try on all the hats!

Please excuse the lack of make up, it was a weekend and I wasn't expecting to go into my hat maniac mode! Head over heels in lust for this top hat!

3. Westfield

On the ground floor of this shopping complex you can find Peter Alexander which stocks the fluffiest dressing gowns and amazing pajamas! I love their penguin and teddy bear collection!

If you take the escalators down to the basement, you'll find a lot of fashion pop-ups selling eccentricities such as cuff links constructed from old bits of cogwheels from watches. There's a bohemian shop that I really like:

Travel back up to the fifth floor for food heaven, the first store I passed by was The Happy Lab, a sweet shop full of jelly beans and champagne truffles in test tubes and beakers! Have you had your daily dose of happiness? Well, I have now!

Love,

K