For all matters fashion, furniture or homeware .... lovers of heirloom clothing, antiques or bric-a-brac ... there is no greater treasure trove than London.
If you a planning a visit to London, or just live here and have never seeked out these stores,
here are some of the very best for fashion vintage shopping.
20 Earlham St., Covent Garden WC2 H9LN
Ph: +44 (20) 7836 3440
Open: 11am-7pm (Mon-Wed); 11am-8pm (Thur-Sat); 12pm-6pm (Sun)
Owner James Wright equally divides between the sexes in this two storey West End emporium.
Taking a cue from the catwalks, Mint builds a story around stock sourced from Europe and the Americas.
64 Fulham High St, Fulham SW6 3LQ
Ph: +44 (0) 20 7736 5038
Open: 10am - 6pm (Mon-Fri), 10.30am - 5pm (Sat)
More like a Parisian salon than a vintage store, Circa carries exquisite high-end womenswear from the roaring 20's to the freewheeling 70's. Including Dior, Ossie Clark, La Mendola, Jean Muir, a tightly edited collection of accessories and jewellery. Upstairs there is a bridal boutique. Everyone from Kate Moss to Duffy has crossed its threshold.
259 Portobello Rd, NottingHill W11
Ph: +44 (207) 792 5853
Through the mirrored door at the back is owner, Jeff Ihenacho's private room, where he dresses his many celeb clients. A Portobello Road institution and a favourite of French vogue, is this jammed- to- the- ceiling Alladin's cave of clothing and accessories.
Alfies Antique Market, Grand Centre Window
13-25 Church St., Marylebone NW8 8DT
Ph: +44 (207) 724 8984
Open: 10am-6pm (Tue - Sat)
Sparkle Moore and Cad Van Swankster have completed a grand expansion to the store, which is an oasis of sophisticated vintage style for men & women; and a showplace of exotic decorative home furnishings reminiscent of the glamour that made Hollywood famous from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. You can buy a cream lace and satin taffeta dress once worn by Marilyn Monroe (with certificate of authenticity?) for £5000, but thankfully most stock is significantly cheaper. There are also Schiaparelli stockings and gloves, burlesque wear, French lingerie, Tiki mugs and drink sets.
28 Church st, Marylebone NW8 8EP
Ph: +44 (0) 7767 437 732
Open: 11am-6pm (Tue -Sat), Monday by appointment
Deborah has been collecting vintage since she was a teenager and her exquisite taste is evident in every corner of this shop. She stocks mint condition outfits by Biba, Courreges, Chelsea Girl and Givenchy Couture. There are also christening dresses, costume jewellery by Trifari, vintage toys, framed fashion prints, Victorian capes and blouses, plus fashion magazines from the 40's to the 60's.
Ph: +44 (207) 247 3883
Brick Lane and it's surrounds have become impossibly trendy (try going there on a weekend!) and a drawcard is the vintage shops that have sprung up. Absolute Vintage is always busy and has some 2000 pairs of shoes, with affordable indie cool (most of the stock hails from the 70's and 80's ... but you can get a Chanel bag here, too!
London also has a number of vintage markets that pop up periodically.
Frock Me and
Anita's Vintage Fashion are among the best.
Check websites for dates and venues and go early!
This should keep you busy .... happy shopping!
xx
What a fabulous post Marina!! It seems I have Circa Vintage taste on a Target budget... How lucky you are to live in London, even to just browse in these stores would be wonderful!! Thank you so much for sharing, I loved this post:) ~ Tina xx
ReplyDeleteOoooh me likes dis!! If only we had stores like this in Sydney...not as lovely as those pictured. x
ReplyDeleteFabulous Marina
ReplyDeleteThe shopping left me in awe when I was in London.. so much more variety than here.. although we are lifting our game now, we are also flooded with a lot of cheap knock off stores!!
Thanks for popping over... truly being lazy.. it is wonderful!! Have a great week xx Julie
Great post Marina, I am not familiar with any of these stores, they sound amazing!
ReplyDeleteHappy sunny Monday :)
London is such a shopper's paradise! Have a lovely week, Marina!
ReplyDeleteI love vintage shopping and these places look amazing! Hope you are having a great week!
ReplyDeletexxxx
Rachel
Dear Marina,
ReplyDeleteI LOVE vintage clothes. I think that I have been in Mint Vintage, although there are quite a few vintage shops in Covent Garden, aren't there ? I wanted a Vivienne Westwood waistcoat that had come off of the catwalk, but it was a size minus zero !!!! There are some good ones in Camden and Cambridge (although Cambridge isn't in London!!). Thanks for telling us about these shops. I will have to check them out. XXXX
I miss London so much!! :(
ReplyDeletefabulous little shop on the way to Portabello Rd, coming from the tube - can't remember name, but had a huge time in there going through all the bits and pieces.
julesx
I love this post, Marina. What wonderful shops you've told us about. I'm sure I could spend 1/2 day browsing around, you never know where treasures will be. I adore vintage handbags, and the really fine ones are usually in excellent condition when you find one as their owners seldom used them. Thank you for this.
ReplyDeletexx's Marsha
this is a lovely post! vintage explorations are so much fun!
ReplyDelete