There are scores of vintage shops in London but none have quite the luste, charm or quality of stock as Virginia Bates’ elegant Holland Park shop. A beaded curtain leads out int a small garden, down in the basement there’s a pale cloud of floaty petticoats, chiffons and laces. Bates selects exquisite pieces from Victorian times through the 1940s and all stock is in perfect nick. Prices aren’t cheap - from £350 for a Victorian petticoat to £3000 for a beaded 1920s flapper dress but then the quality here is excellent.
