This week we're going down Long Street in Cape Town...trendy restaurants, bars and coffee shops plus fabulous boutiques and vintage stores...it's a quirky street filled with treasures, great food and people!
I would love to introduce you to some of the boutiques I visit every time I come to Cape Town. First up is Afraid of Mice - this is a beautiful vintage boutique full of clothes and accessories "you wish your mother had kept for you" Every item is hand picked and special either for the stitching, fabric or a tiny detail...nothing is bought en masse.
This boutique is not your traditional dusty, dark, cluttered and overstocked vintage store - all the stock is sourced ahead of season to keep up with current trends and runway styles. Most of the labels they stock can't be found anywhere else is South Africa! They have pieces from Chanel, Stella McCartney, Cloe, Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta to name a few...
They also buy direct from the public - so if you have any pre loved designer goodies you would like to sell, this is the boutique to do it!
I first got to know Afraid of Mice at the Saturday morning neighbourhood market at the Biscuit Mill in Woodstock where they had a small stall, then I visited their studio in Woodstock and now I'm a regular visitor to their Long Street boutique every time I'm in town.
What started as 2 sisters Bianca and Simone dreaming about owning a vintage boutique to the reality of a beautiful shop well known within the fashion industry...
"This is a top-notch vintage store offering classics at affordable prices, a shop to spend a good part of your day in" - Elle Magazine South Africa
You can find them at Shop 86 Long Street 021 423-7353
For more information visit their website at Afraid of Mice
Next up is Babette Clothing - I stumbled on this treasure of a boutique during my last visit in Cape Town where I bought a reworked bright red fringed kaftan and some vintage Chanel drop earrings and just knew this boutique had to go on my fab list!
Fashion designer Barbara owns this gorgeous vintage boutique and after travelling through Europe, Australia and East Asia fell in love with vintage fashion along her way...she chanced upon a line of authentic dresses, altered or reworked to make it more wearable for today's lifestyle.
Greeted by a bright yellow gate and a charming black/white awning, once you step inside old meets new and everything goes! A timeless feel of kitch meets cool, you will find an abundance of lovely one of a kind reworked vintage, jewellery and other retro finds.
Babette also stock clothing lines from from local designers. Charming but cute, a little different and always unique, Babette will undoubtedly have something for you!
Find this gorgeous boutique at 41 Church Street 021 424-4457
For more information visit their website at babetteclothing.co.za
Last but not least you can't go to Long Street and not visit the big African Market slap bang right in the middle of all the hustle and bustle and craziness of this world famous street...greeted by rows and rows of bright beaded necklaces and arm candy, colourful hand embroided handbags and hand crafted wooden jewellery, it will be very hard to not find something unique to take home with you, like I do every time I go in there! It's hard to miss this colourful and vibrant market...just ask anybody on the street and they are sure to point you in the right direction!
These are just a few of the treasures I've found on this visit...
Make sure to check back next week for more Style in the City...
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