West LA Boutique is in good company at Jumeirah’s Sunset Mall: after opening in March, the store now rubs shoulders with hotspots including Valleydez, Socialista Boutique and Rivaage. Yet the thing that sets it apart is its affordability and well-edited stock. It’s clear that founder Alia Korayem has spent time rifling through the racks of the world’s coolest boutiques – the pieces that pepper the shop floor are fresh, fashion-forward and wearable.

The décor doesn’t disappoint either: a floor-to-ceiling wooden interior gives the boutique a clean, relaxed feel, and the grassy feature wall bearing the store’s name is straight out of the tree-lined streets of shopping hub Robertson Boulevard in West Hollywood. Our only gripe is the lighting in the fitting rooms: the fluoro orange globes are unflattering and distort the colour of the garments, so you’ll need to poke your head outside to make any sort of judgement call. Either way, you’ll be stoked with the selection of underground designers, including Aussie labels One Teaspoon, Bec and Bridge, Shakuhachi and Stylestalker, and US labels Unif Denim, Naven and House of Harlow, plus plenty more. We think we’ve just found our new fave Dubai store.
West LA Boutique, Sunset Mall, Jumeirah (04 394 4248).