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London's 11 best independent fashion boutiques — for men and women

London's 11 best independent fashion boutiques — for men and women

Yahoo22-03-2025

London has long acted as a breeding ground for the most exciting independent boutiques in the world.
At the Design Museum's recent Outlaws exhibition, which looked back at the 1980s fashion scene, the central space was built to look like the old Kensington Market; each stand was dedicated to one of the many indie designers and multi-brand outlets that used to attract fanatics from across the globe — from Hyper Hyper to Pineal Eye.
That spirit can still be felt across the capital, if you know where to look. In the interests of stopping every high street space becoming an unaffordable gym, they are all well worth supporting. Here's our pick of the best.
For: East London cool
The warehouse-esque interior of this east London institution is packed full of everything that would catch your eye in the garden of The Spurstowe Arms. Founded in 2007 by Kyle Stewart and Jo Sindle, it caters to 'skaters, sneakerheads, Scandi-style fanatics' — as well as anyone after the latest Wales Bonner adidas shoe. The Hanbury Street location opened last year and also offers Danish homeware and Nothing tech.
Find it: 15 Hanbury Street, E1
For: Fresh international labels
Once a timberyard, this is now a multi-brand mecca. It was founded in 2008 by Emily Dyson-Paley and Ian Paley, who have an eye for emerging designers. This season the Garbstore (for men) features Carter Young, Mizuno and CIOTA while Couverture (women's) welcomes About Arianne, A'Court and Renata Brenha. Heard of them? Me neither. Head on down.
Find it: 188 Kensington Park Road, W11
For: Authentic military jackets
Okay — on the face of it, this is Britain's 'leading medal dealer'. But the tiny shop is also home to countless military jackets, which fashion designers have been copying for decades. Totally Kate Moss style — invest in a red one. You can also pick up some medals.
Find it: 13-15 Cecil Court, WC2
For: Sophisticated menswear
The brainchild of the very well dressed Magnus Ronning, this independent label made its name with an 'everyday uniform' of basics from pleated slacks to fisherman knits. Its first permanent store opened in Soho last year.
Find it: 106 Berwick Street, W1
For: Exquisite jewellery
She is rumoured to be the woman behind Zendaya's engagement ring — but don't be put off going to McCormack's divine townhouse boutique because you are worried you won't be able to afford anything. It's worth visiting in the same way you would a National Trust property — packed with her peerless art collection and, of course, plenty of diamonds.
Find it: 7 Carlos Place, W1
For: Exceptional men's vintage tailoring
This Notting Hill treasure trove is a favourite among locals, including poet Sonny Hall. The rails are packed with tailoring spanning the 20th century, from 1970s peaked lapel velvet jackets to country tweeds. Expect owner Claudia Vispi to be on hand with a warm welcome, unmatched advice and a pole to bring down blazers from the ceiling.
Find it: 282 Portobello Road, W10
For: The newest collaborations
'Multi-brand stores are not dead,' said LN-CC's owners John Skelton and Daniel Mitchell as they re-opened their shop in Dalston in 2024. It has regained its place in the driving seat of London fashion, regularly hosting bashes for their latest collaborations — from Asics to Ugg.
Find it: 18-24 Shacklewell Lane, E8
For: Rare Comme des Garçons
It solidified its reputation as the niche vintage spot to know when British Vogue declared it had become 'like a youth club for the east London fashion set' last November. You'll have to seek out its two hard-to-find studio locations — but when you do, expect to find rare labels you'll feel thrilled to come away with.
Find it: 75a Regent Studios, 8 Andrews Road, E8 and 258 Hackney Road, E2
For: Impeccable watches
Founded in 2017 by south London brothers Harvey and Jacob Hutson, Kettle Kids sells some of the world's finest watches (think Cartier and Patek Philippe). After finding great success on Instagram, you can now find them in their Mayfair flagship — and also get a glimpse of their own jewellery designs.
Find it: 16 Maddox Street, W1
For: The London Fashion Week labels
Founder Harry Fisher collates some of London's greatest homegrown talent, from Martine Rose and JW Anderson to Ahluwalia and Saul Nash. He opened this sprawling ground-floor space in Spitalfields in 2024.
Find it: 147 Commercial Street, E1
For: The very best high fashion vintage
Hands down one of London's greatest vintage shops, Found and Vision — co-established by stylist Karen Clarkson in 2012 — is a must-visit for lovers of designer labels as well as those simply looking for unique pieces to stand out from the crowd. Georgia May Jagger is a fan.
Find it: 318 Portobello Road, W10

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I just think that these guys run the companies, so many of them are compromised and … Let's narrow it down to your world. We could have the other discussion … But I think it affects my world because they now own my world. We probably were striking against the wrong people that time. Because we're owned by tech people now. This is increasingly more and more a tech business. And so, ultimately, we're at the whim of these people at the very top of these companies. We saw after, after the election, everybody's sort of paying, essentially bribes to [ Donald Trump ]. So that affects us. That really does affect the business. People are afraid now. And so you see that. You see people are too careful. They're afraid because of the political climate, or they're afraid just because it's an era of consolidation and there just aren't that many places to go if you upset a studio chief? I think all of the above. I just think it's all at the same time. Also, the ground is shifting. This business hasn't landed where it's going to land yet, and people keep looking backwards and saying, "No, we just need to get moviegoing back to where it was." That boat's sailed. That's not gonna happen anymore. So we're not thinking about, "Well, what is the business now? What does the business want to be?" The audience is trying to tell us, and we're not listening. How do you feel about using tech and AI in your work? There's one theory that says someone's going to type in a prompt and the AI spits out an entire movie. The more conservative argument is, "We're going to improve flows, and instead of using 10 visual-effects people, you could do it with four or eight." The even more positive spin is, "Those eight to 10 visual-effects people could do much better work." We've always used versions of that. If it wasn't proper AI, there were always ways to shortcut those kinds of things, to create a smoother workflow and all of that. If an actor couldn't do a certain stunt, and we wanted to put their face on something else, that's been happening, and that's going to get easier. Which is scary if you're an actor. I think the bigger problem is not making stuff with AI, but deciding what to make with AI. That's the bigger threat, at least for me, in the immediate sense. Have you played around and asked ChatGPT to write a script in the mode of Scott Frank? Yeah. It was silly. But if you want to write a letter, a business letter or something … my wife needed to write this letter, and she just thought, "Let's see what ChatGPT said," and she sent me the letter and it was damn good. It was really good. I think it's more about the future of the algorithm. The algorithm is great for marketing after something's done. [But] it's death to the industry to use it to decide what to make because you're gaming something. And if everybody's using the same algorithm, it becomes a snake that eats its own tail eventually. That's my big fear. You started in Hollywood the old-fashioned way — you moved there and spent years trying to get work as a writer. I wrote one script over and over that no one wanted — " Little Man Tate" — until somebody wanted it. What would that path look like for you now if you wanted to get into making movies or television? Would you move to LA, for starters? That's easy. I wouldn't go into movies or television. I'd go into games. If I were 24 now, I'm not gonna fuck around with movies or television. I want to go work in the gaming world, where I think there's some really interesting stuff going on. Other than the fact that lots of people play games, what's appealing to you? They seem pretty narratively limited. But they're at the beginning, in a way. I mean, the first movies were narratively limited, too. And I wonder what you can do with them. I'm really curious. I just feel like that world is way more interesting. You know, more people watch YouTube stuff and TikTok stuff than Netflix. YouTube is No. 1 [for time spent] and Netflix is way down [the list]. And then the next closest thing, Disney, is way down. And people on average spend two hours a day on TikTok. So that's what you're competing with. So your next project is an immersive game … No. I'm too old. There's a series of "Dept. Q" books. Will you do more of them? I'd love to. It's up to Netflix. I would absolutely love to.

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