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Margot Loves
A Shopping Guide for the Intrepid Vintage Lover
Writer and vintage style expert Charlotte Coplin shares her favorite shopping spots from her recent European adventure.
Greece, Spring 2024
Hauling a heavy suitcase through a crowded airport is never a good feeling. Yet shopping for treasure while travelling overseas is one of life’s greatest joys—at least, I think so.
This spring, I packed my bags and set off for London, Greece, the south of France, and the north of Italy. Throughout this trip, I traversed all kinds of cultures and climates, not to mention that the space in my suitcase did begin to dwindle towards the end of my itinerary. Nevertheless, I already had a pretty good idea of where to go, as this was mainly a tour of old favourite places.
As a writer, vintage lover, and dedicated traveller, I treat the vintage trinkets and one-off pieces I find during my journeys as souvenirs. I love returning home, having friends come over, them asking about a rug, my dress, or something as simple as a coaster, and me being able to share the story of where I found it.
The tale I take home could be a literal one: “I found this skirt via a vintage vendor on Portobello Road, who told me it used to belong to X,” yet often, the story behind a preloved piece requires some imagination. For example, I bought a pair of lustrous, golden stilettos from a small vintage boutique in Rome a couple of years ago. There was no exact story shared on who the original owner was, yet when I wear them, I close my eyes and envision the hypothetical her navigating cobblestones on her way to the opera or even wearing them on her wedding day (Italians do adore gold for any occasion, after all!).
If I’m not shopping vintage, I do my best to shop via local artisans and boutiques, and often, these places come with wonderful stories, too.
I bought a bespoke hat from Savapile in Athens. My hat may have been new, but the business was well established, having been started by the maker’s father in 1960 and since handed down to her. This makes for a set of established designs that have timeless appeal mixed with her modern tastes, plus I could feel familial love in each stitch.
There are many more things I adore about scouring for treasure while travelling. I love creating unique gifts for my family and friends, adhering to a budget via local flea markets and thrift stores, and, of course, meeting interesting, passionate vendors as I go. Yet above all, I believe that shopping off-the-beaten-track is a wise way to discover any new place. This all sounds quite glamorous on paper, but I can assure you that I have been shopping this way since I was a broke 17-year-old, having spent a year as an exchange student in Sicily, returning back to suburban New Zealand with a suitcase full of exotic treasure.
To save you some research, I'm sharing a few of my favourite places from this spring’s trip.
London, UK
Kensington
A classic vintage fair in a divine location, I loved discovering Frock Me this spring for the first time. Arguably some of the city's best vendors were there selling their wares, not to mention the location is jaw-droppingly gorgeous.
Notting Hill
Just off Portobello Road, Found and Vision is a fabulous boutique I hadn’t visited for almost a decade. Not having found what I was looking for (a lightweight, silk kimono) from the Portobello road market, I popped in here and straight away found the piece I’d been imagining. I put my success down to the shop's keen curation. Owned and run by London stylists, there is such an exact mix of cool vintage clothing available here. Frankly, it’s very hard to leave empty-handed.
Athens
Monastiraki
As mentioned before, the only place for a gorgeous sunhat (and you will need a sunhat in Greece) is Savapile. Liza, the incredible woman behind the brand, is a brilliant designer and maker who literally whipped me up a hat overnight. There I also found a sweet, straw bag I’ve been using almost daily as a carry-all. It's totally classic and much more elegant than a hotel-branded tote bag.
Acropolis
A gorgeous shop full of exquisite, preloved designer pieces. Everything for sale at Mo is classic European design with an added layer of Greek flair. Not to mention it sits right by the Acropolis, where you’re also bound to want to go for a boost of ancient inspiration.
Hat and bag from Savapile
South of France
Old Town, Nice
This beautiful jewellery shop takes designs from the 1920s to the 1970s and reimagines them using durable yet delicate materials. As the designs are nostalgic, the pieces work wonderfully with a vintage wardrobe. The boutique itself is an utter delight, and it gleams as though it’s the interior of an antique jewellery box. I left with a pair of dainty earrings and a renewed passion for boutique shopping.
Sauve
Sauve is a mediaeval town in the south of France, positively brimming with vintage treasure. My favourite brocante there is Coordonńes. Run by a wonderful woman named Odile, she offers room after room of homewares, linens, clothes, and other heavenly trinkets.
Opera Diva vibes - Teatro alla Scala a Milano
Milan
Brera
Italians do almost everything better, especially shoes. I was tottering around Brera, literally wishing for a “perfect pair of pumps.” I knew I was in the right town, but I didn’t quite know where to start. That’s until my Airbnb host told me about Le Solferine. Housing all kinds of artisanal leather shoes in classic meets modern designs; I absolutely adored my time spent scouring their shelves. Naturally, I did find the perfect pair of white pumps, perfect for summer.
Brera
Uzi boasts a capsule-closet-type collection of 1920s to 1970s Italian vintage, which is as good as it sounds. I find them particularly good for shirts, blouses, and accessories. This is an old favourite vintage shop of mine, and I can add, with conviction, that this is where locals shop.
Luggage
Online/France
I always plan on arriving at the airport looking like a girl from a Pan Am ad circa 1962. This fantasy of mine doesn’t always manifest itself, but in a bid to become more considered, I have begun to update my luggage. For a long time, I was a devoted fan of the hard-shell suitcase, but after the trunk of a tiny Italian taxi left a crack in the surface of my suitcase a couple of years ago, I have slowly been switching my luggage back to a soft-shell instead.
The brand I absolutely love is LiPault. It’s French, so it’s naturally chic, but more than that, I find the shape of their suitcases more accommodating and the exterior much more durable than the hard-shell suitcases of my past (so far, I’ve not had one scuff mark on my gorgeous Jean Paul Gaultier x LiPault suitcase). Not to mention, it’s a deservedly pretty place to temporarily house my new wares.
With that final tip, I’ll bid you bon voyage and remind you (and myself) to always leave a little wiggle room in your suitcase for any unexpected treasure.
Words by Charlotte Coplin
Travel imagery courtesy Charlotte Coplin
Portrait Imagery Eryca Green
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