Top of the Shops?

I love few things more than discovering a great new uber-cool bar, restaurant, club or boutique that no one else knows about, tucked away in the back streets of London. So imagine my delight yesterday when a dear friend of mine who works in the fashion industry took me on a jaunt to some of London’s best vintage clothing stores. Having deemed me suitably serious (ie obsessed) about fashion, she decided to let me in on the secrets of a select few.

It was fantastic. As I danced around the stores, grabbing brightly coloured dresses, belts and beads – and simultaneously wearing quite a few of them as well – my companion reclined on a leather couch with a black coffee, nursing her hangover and imparting the odd piece of advice. I was in my element. Until… somewhere between the ra-ras and the ruffles, there it was. A beautiful vintage dress from the 1980s, with unique pleated high neckline and elasticated sleeves. Except that it was not unique. The unmistakeable cut exactly matches a gold top I bought 2 months ago from Topshop’s Unique range; part of its favourite fashion-forward, limited edition line. Of course, having read Fashion Babylon, I know that everything is ripped off from vintage stores and cyclically rehashed from eras past, but to see it in all its glory in front of my very eyes – for the princely sum of £8, I might add – was quite disconcerting. There are 49 other people walking around in the same limited edition Topshop Unique gold top as me, but no one else has the similarly-cut £8 vintage dress (especially not after tomorrow, when I have it altered by my dressmaker).

So, vintage dressing is now my new thing. It’s not the end of the road for me and Topshop, though. However, I shall be limiting my Topshop visits to 2 a month.