Browns Boutique is a very fashionable boutique on South Moulton Street in London, long filled with often cutting-edge, but always influential fashion from designers like Sonia Rykiel, Comme des Garçons and Azzedine Alaia.

Joan Burstein: ‘When I started out, I didn’t know a thing - but I had passion, and a husband who knew all about business’I’ve always assumed that the person behind Browns Boutique was herself a style-maker, but I smile today, seeing Mrs. B’s photo and learning that she is 82-years-old.

The London Telegraph informs us that Mrs. B — who originally discovered Hussein Chalayan and John Galliano — is a woman of “impeccable judgement”. This has always been my experience, wandering through Browns, where each item greets you as one carefully chosen for the shop.

Surely Mrs. Burstein’s collections are among the most tightly edited retail offerings in the world.

The ever-optimistic Mrs. B assures us that she’s not “mad” but yes, indeed, she is opening a designer shoe shop in the midst of a severe recession.

Her commitment to new retail concepts is born of failure and not only unending success. Looking at Mrs. Burstein’s photo, it’s difficult not to trust a judgement so well-honed over the years. I’ll take her advice on the future of retail any day of the week.

This recession, she says, feistiness creeping into her voice, only feels different to the last one “because then we didn’t have it blaring at us from everywhere. Yes, we had a bad time in November but we did well in December. The bottom line is that people still want to buy, and if they haven’t got the money they’ll save to buy the things that they want.

“There’s too much doom and gloom, but I promise you this: people still aspire to own things.”

Well said, Mrs. B. From your mouth, to god’s ears, as the expression goes. A

See also Nov. 28, 2010

British Fashion Honors Joan Burstein | Mrs B of Browns with videos