Remember when everything was budget? Not long ago, the fashion set customised their own clothes and DIYed their Bethnal Green crack-dens.

Everyone showed off about how inexpensive everything was; what a bargain they picked up at Brick Lane Market.

Well, what happened? It seems that London's style community has done a complete flip. Luxury is the only byword these days.

Teenaged girls - the same ones that would have happily sported vintage finds a few years ago - are carrying genuine Dior, Balenciaga and Mulberry handbags. That's upwards of £600 per bag, people. How do they afford their requisite illegal narcotics with these kind of expenses?

As a teenager, I was considered a spoilt brat because I had not one, but two, Benetton logo rugby shirts (green and blue, since you asked); what's spoilt now - getting a Ferrari for your sixteenth birthday?

But in the interest in keeping up with the cognoscenti, we're a little excited bout the launch of new magazine Plastique this week. Focussing on everything luxurious in London, the book will go on sale at Borders next week, as well as certain US retailers.