Accumulative Shop-age

I don’t mean to be a moaner and be all ‘newspaper comment-y’ (I find commentors on the Times/Telegraph websites distinctly hilarious…) but I must again bring up another omission on Time Out’s 100 Best Shops in London list…

It’s a selfish one because I guess my idea of London’s 100 best shops is going to be a little different.  Still, seeing as I agreed with about 50% of the list, TO and my taste aren’t too far away from each other.  So I will still groan on about the omission which is The Shop on Cheshire Street which I gave pat-pat write up two years ago.  Two years on, and my affection hasn’t waned.  Quite simply, it’s a just such a rammed, useful place to hunt for things that you can dissect, take apart for DIY projects or simply things that you can wear just as.  It’s not a perfect vintage shop.  It’s not a perfect trimmings shop.  It’s just a really really useful shop because they do happen to have that funny combination of vintage nightwear, hats, jewellery, shoes, hankies/lace, prom dresses, knitwear and just general clothing random-ness that you have to hunt for and rummage through, which I’m always prepared to do.  The prices are also reasonable verging on cheap.  My Sportmax linen shift dress which I turned into a good little DIY project was a tenner.  A wonderful black and red graphic printed dress which I intend to make a leather capelet attachment thing for because it has a burn mark on the back was ¬£7 (burn mark induced…).  The scraps of lace, hankies and doilies never go over a fiver.  Some wonderful cream lace shoes which I wear all the time were a tenner.  As I was thinking about it, I realised that I had accumulated quite a Shop haul.

My last buy (a while back, I concede but then I’ve been on a bit of a shopping cull until now….) is a random item…. a 60’s nightgown set with bed jacket/coat and poof dress underneath.  The pattern is so swirly and with so much volume, I can’t imagine anyone thinking this was sexy in anyway seeing as it was supposed to be night attire…. but the print and volume suits me fine now and I love wearing them separately…

The Shop haul will continue and documentation of what I do with the stuff I get at the Shop will also never cease (leather capelet for iron burn ruined dress will be my next Shop item project…) and I know it is annoying that I keep on talking up things that only Londoners can get to but it was quite the omission and I just couldn’t let it lie…