retail genre department store founded 1970 founder joan & sidney burstein headquarters london england parent farfetch website http www.brownsfashion.com browns is an independent fashion boutique based in london england . it was founded by joan burstein and husband sidney in 1970 . the flagship store is on london s south molton street . contents 1 history 2 stores 3 references 4 external links history edit joan burstein founded browns with her late husband sidney in 1970 . 1 initially a small boutique housed on the ground floor at 27 south molton street browns grew rapidly expanding through five connecting georgian townhouses . their daughter caroline burstein founded molton brown before joining browns as creative director in 1993 . their son simon burstein became ceo . 2 known for discovering talents such as john galliano alexander mcqueen and christopher kane 3 it also brought designers such as calvin klein sabine g. armani ralph lauren and jil sander to london . 4 browns has continued to support both young and established fashion designers . 5 in 2006 joan burstein known in the fashion industry as mrs b received a cbe in the queen s birthday honours list for services to fashion . 4 sidney burnstein died in april 2010 . 6 in may 2015 browns passed from family ownership when it was acquired by the fashion website farfetch . 7 joan burnstein stayed on as honorary chair and her son and daughter simon and caroline retained seats on the board . 1 8 stores edit browns includes brownsfashion.com browns at 23 27 south molton street with browns focus at number 24 browns at 160 sloane street and bridalwear stores browns bride 12 hinde street and vera wang at browns 59 brook street . 2 references edit a b clark andrew 13 may 2015 . farfetch has an eye for talent and buys browns fashion boutique . the times . retrieved 13 may 2015 . a b caroline burstein . showstudio.com . showstudio . retrieved 13 may 2015 . in conversation with mrs joan burstein cbe . vam.ac.uk . victoria & albert museum . retrieved 13 may 2015 . a b grant linda 26 november 2006 . three cheers for mrs b . daily telegraph . retrieved 13 may 2015 . joan burnstein . vogue . march 2015 . retrieved 13 may 2015 . jones dolly 9 april 2010 . mr burnstein remembered . vogue . retrieved 13 may 2015 . hounslea tara 12 may 2015 . farfetch acquires london boutique browns . drapers . retrieved 13 may 2015 . binkley christina 12 may 2015 . online retailer farfetch buys london s browns fashion boutique . wall street journal . retrieved 13 may 2015 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title browns fashion boutique & oldid 724226604 categories shops in londonbuildings and structures in the city of westminsterretail companies established in 19701970 establishments in england navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 7 june 2016 at 22 35 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view