By Sylvie Kirsch
Medill Reports
LONDON — Notting Hill, a glitzy West London neighborhood chock-full of vintage and designer boutiques, is arguably the epicenter of coat couture. Thousands of styles, designs and brands dominate sidewalks and fill stores. Effortless and elegant, a well-made coat can last decades and is the ultimate statement piece. Pop an emerald Chesterfield over that all-black outfit and immediately become capitally cool.
But instead of spending 1,955 pounds ($2,000) at Selfridges on that new Burberry trench, try hunting for one for 85 pounds ($110) at Pepper Tree London in Notting Hill. Then, spend hours meandering through curated rows of threads at the stores below, all within about a half mile (1 kilometer) of one another.
Lovers Lane Vintage – 77 Portobello Road
Frequented by Kate Moss and her daughter, Lila, this curated vintage archival boutique is meant to inspire shoppers to find their personal style through timeless items.
“I wanted it to feel like walking into a giant walk-in closet that’s just very homey with no pretense,” said Kimberly Green, who opened the store with her two daughters, Charlotte and Georgina, during the pandemic.
Family defines the boutique, its name inspired by Green falling in love with her husband on this street.
A strong blue facade welcomes shoppers into a long, narrow corridor brimming with rare finds like the fiery orange pleated Dior skirt in the window that Green was selling for 7,000 pounds ($8,955). That is relatively modest, though, for a store where items can range up to 20,000 pounds ($25,600). Although Dior, Chanel and Hermès labels pepper the place, the jacket collection is based on “beautiful designs,” not brands, Green said.
“What moves me — that’s all it is. I don’t believe in trends at all.”
She displays her own vintage items next to pieces she bought from other archivists selling their collections. Green plucks four pieces from every 5,000, a 0.08% acceptance rate much lower than Harvard’s 3.5%.
Lovers Lane Vintage carries a host of couture coats, including this baby pink vintage tweed Dior double-breasted blazer with fur trim, right. (Sylvie Kirsch/MEDILL)
Kervin Marc Boutique – 189 Westbourne Grove
Kervin Marc is a St. Lucian-born, former professional cricket player-turned-fashion designer whose eponymous artisanal design line features high-end unisex bespoke pieces made from recycled military uniforms, sheepskins, leathers and other leftover material scraps. A-listers such as Halle Berry and Idris Elba have worn Marc’s patchwork coats, each one handmade and assembled into a unique pattern – a labor of love that is reflected in prices that range up to 6,000 pounds ($7,680).
“I like extraordinary, and I like individuality,” Marc said.
His artwork decorates the three-year-old store, which opened during the pandemic. He modeled his Kai 2 (the name means “shell” in Japanese), a long Irish linen kimono with salvage military details. Based on the St. Lucian cultural mindset of making do with what one has, Marc prioritizes using scraps of material to promote sustainability and ensure his designs are recognizable as his.
Kervin Marc models his designs at his Notting Hill boutique. (Sylvie Kirsch/MEDILL)
Shoppers often walk out of this neighborhood clutching one of Marc’s salvaged military canvas shoulder bags filled with capes, kimonos, jackets and other Notting Hill treasures.
Vintage Fur Garden – 82E Portobello Road
Fur fanatics must head straight from Heathrow to Vintage Fur Garden, where they can browse through hundred-year-old hats and handbags alongside two floors brimming with vintage and secondhand minks. Everything is curated, from the 10 pound ($12.50) rings to the playlist that blasts jazz classics like Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” Coats cover the walls from floor to ceiling and range from average minks and ferret furs to couture pieces like a python-skin trench with a collar made from a stuffed silver fox — head and all.
“Very interesting, unique pieces are what we’re into,” said Pete Willis, salesperson and partner of owner Karen Shaerf, who opened the store in December 2019.
Because they are vintage, not new, the coats are environmentally friendly, Willis said. “There’s still a demand for fur, so why not recycle what you’ve got instead of just throwing it away?”
Of course, they’re in top-notch, Notting Hill-worthy condition.
“Everything in this shop has been conditioned and taken care of,” salesperson and coat curator Mel Kaplan said. “We double-stitch. We clean.”
While prices are pre-determined on an ad-hoc basis based on quality, brand and rarity, bartering is highly encouraged.
Shoppers at Vintage Fur Garden are greeted by floor-to-ceiling merchandise displays. (Sylvie Kirsch/MEDILL)
Pepper Tree London Notting Hill – 31 Pembridge Road
’90s and Y2K lovers will be immediately transported to the heyday of NSYNC when they step into Pepper Tree London. Punk rock like The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” blasts as manager Ines Alvez flits between rows, chatting with customers. Founder Veysel Aydin started his store as a stall on Portobello Road and expanded to this location two years ago.
Pepper Tree London houses hundreds of everyday vintage coats. (Sylvie Kirsch/MEDILL)
Coats fill dozens of racks throughout the building’s three floors. Aydin builds his stock the old-fashioned way — by combing through bins of donated or discarded clothing in London warehouses.
“I would say this is more your classic vintage store,” said salesperson John-Michael LaDage. “You have a bit of all of your classics: Carhartt, Levi’s, leather trenches, Burberry and designer pieces.”
Most items range from 45 pounds to 135 pounds ($55- $170) – a bargain for Notting Hill.
Sylvie Kirsch is a magazine graduate student at Medill. You can follow her on LinkedIn.
