Londoners Can Buy Like Kings on This Street

This city is a delight for shoppers.

There’s Oxford Street, the heart of the exclusive shopping districts, and Portobello Road, a fun place for antiques, inexpensive clothes, food and other items. But on King’s Road, where the rents are high, the shops seem to come and go more often than anywhere else.

Near Sloane Square, many of the King’s Road shops have been taken over by large chains, such as Laura Ashley for floral fashions and home accessories.

Privately owned boutiques are tucked among chain outlets, but in general they are concentrated at the bottom end of King’s Road toward New King’s Road.

The road runs for more than two miles. Walkers can hop onto a bus (No. 22) at Sloane Square and travel from stop to stop to visit top shops. (London buses don’t usually charge for traveling only one stop, so you may not have to pay.)

Shops with unusual merchandise:

Gifted (No. 69A), a newcomer to the street, has amusing and high-tech home accessories and gift items. Included are three-dimensional address books shaped like London phone booths ($13 U.S.), a photo frame shaped like an auto in which the snapshots are placed in the auto windows ($32), audio cassette cases made to look like miniature juke boxes ($20), long-handled brooms with brushes shaped like shoes ($30) and shoe-polish brushes shaped like shoes ($15).

The Common Market (No. 121) sells its own line of ultra-mod clothes, including gold vinyl bomber jackets ($260), sequined backpacks (from $47), men’s pseudo-tuxedos (from $197), beaded bustiers ($100), brightly colored leggings attached to velvet bikini pants ($63) and a vast selection of styles fashioned from stone-washed denim.

Awards (No. 123A) offers a distinctive unisex casual collection, including attractive striped cotton jersey shirts ($39 to $55), skinny knit tops ($55), cotton pantaloons with elastic bands hugging the ankles ($36) and other mix-and-match items, all in black and white.

Jones (No. 129) sells Jean-Paul Gaultier, Comme des Garcons and John Richmond faddy fashions for men and women. Women’s dresses are priced from $316; men’s suits are from $500.

David Fielden (No. 137) designs pricey made-to-order evening and bridal dresses for London’s best-known socialites. Featured at the moment is a stunning velvet gown with a graceful low-cut square neckline, lavish full-length and full-width skirt and delicately beaded bodice trimmed with fake mink. This extravaganza, which might have clothed a character in “Dangerous Liaisons,” costs about $2,600.

Omcar (No. 149) features funky fashions, including big, bold, casual cotton-and-rayon shirts (about $30) imported from France, Italy and Colombia, and an enormous array of stone-washed and stylishly faded Levi’s and denim jackets (priced about $35 and up).

Boy (No. 153), a haven of punk style, sells big black jerseys decorated with slogans stenciled in chic gold ($31), with complimentary black walking shorts ($23) and matching baseball caps ($13 to $15). There are also wildly patterned T-shirts.

Philip of King’s Road (No. 191) is an army surplus outlet with a lot of used military and civilian clothing, much of it of U.S. origin. Prices are reasonable.

Amagansett (No. 201), another American image knock-off, sells its own line of men’s clothes styled after the New England look. There are preppy corduroy trousers ($91), patterned woolen sweaters (from $150), cotton shirts for casual ($61) or formal wear ($55) and wonderful oilskin jackets with the Henry Cotton label ($390).

Caroline Walker (No. 239) designs, displays and sells her own line of daring dressy evening gowns ($134 to $395) sporting velvet bodices with taffeta and satin full skirts worn over crinolines. All in bright colors and black, some with sequins and spangles. There are also sequined evening bags (from $65) and other brilliant dress-up accessories.

Designer Sale Studio (No. 241) brings its patrons last year’s designer collections at discounted prices. It has Byblos jackets for $300, Genny jersey dresses for $229 and skirts for $134, Krizia evening attire for $308 to $460, Christian Lacroix scarfs for $60 and velvet jackets from $355. The sales staff is courteous and there are pleasant dressing rooms.

F.FWD. London (No. 261) is a gift boutique featuring trendy jewelry plus personal and home accessories. Old book covers are made into modern one-of-a-kind agendas ($95), chic shades with flip-up frames, modern designer teapots ($118) and antique telephones from various countries (from $32), plus pretty shell-like earrings in gold ($120) or silver ($72) and three-strand silver wedding bands ($50).

Green and Stone (No. 259) is an art supply store with a fine selection of antique pens and writing accessories. Parker fountain pens sell for $200 and up. A sterling silver model costs $308. A crystal ink stand sells for $466, and a mahogany ink box with small bottles of colored drawing ink costs $364.

In addition, there are artists’ greeting cards ($1) as well as cat lovers’ datebooks, garden journals, a watercolor daybook and supplies for sketching your way through London.

Brats (No. 281) sells trendy gifts and gadgets, including boxer shorts decorated with Christmas trees ($10), fabulous and fun felt hats (from $67), Neal’s Yard hair-care products in pretty packages (from $2.50) and pressed leather Filofax datebooks for probably the best price in town (from about $115 for a binder, diary and some organizer forms).

Harold Footwear Ltd. (No. 285) has terrific women’s shoes by Sybilla (from $142), Fruit (from $94), Patrick Fox (from $135) and Maud Frizon (from $157). Best of all are Sybilla’s suede pumps with scroll-like heels that curl inward ($135).

Hetherington (No. 289) is a made-to-order fashion house specializing in dressy cocktail suits, evening gowns and wedding dresses. Designer Sasha Hetherington, who has been on King’s Road for a dozen years, uses bright and strong colors to make delightfully feminine dresses. Black velvet bodices have flouncy taffeta skirts in gold or rose.

The fabulous tulip dress, made in bright blue and green silk, has a petal-like strapless top over a fitted short skirt. Prices range from $700 to $950 for evening dresses, $400 to $1,580 for wedding confections. Some ready-to-wear dresses are kept in stock, but custom-made clothes cost the same amount, and Sasha can have a dress done within three days if need be. And, of course, if it’s made to order, the bustle can be detachable.

Joannas Tent (No. 189B) is owner Joanna Pittacas’ faddy fashion outpost featuring her own bulky and multi-patterned hand-knit sweaters (from $200) in black, accented with mauves or blues, plus the enticing styles of top English designers.

Sara Sturgeon’s rayon mix-and-match slacks suits in golds and earth tones cost from $167 per item. Ghost, the label of Andrea Sargent, provides flowing overblouses ($308) to be worn over flaring long skirts ($116). Knit Artwork hand-knit sweaters (about $475) have bold colors and wild patterns.

Irish designer John Rochas makes stunningly tapered crepe slacks ($250) to be worn with matching Pierrot tops ($553) that are ruffled at the neck and cuffs. In addition there are the latest Waterland Affairs, Frogs and Nico Verbey fashions from the Netherlands and, downstairs, the entire line of colorful kid’s clothes, ranging from snuggly snow jackets ($102) to multicolor sneakers ($40) by Oilily, a Dutch label.

Stephen King (No. 315) sells super-chic men’s pure cotton shirts, including colorful paisley prints ($134), one-of-a-kind multi-patterned paisleys ($135 to $150) and limited edition (two-of-a-kind) jackets of black polished cotton trimmed with paisley (about $275).

Rococo (No. 321), King’s Road’s most unusual sweet shop, sells Chantal Coady’s intriguing designer chocolates, including escargot au lait and other delights. The “Mozart truffle” blends rum and pistachio flavors; others feature rose, banana and violet creams as well as pink champagne.

About 35 chocolates equal a pound, which sells for $12. There are also baskets of dark chocolates shaped and wrapped to resemble small silver-and-blue fish (about 70 cents each). The decor is pastel, with hand-painted walls, a bust of Cleopatra and other rococo accents.

Among the trendy shops showing high fashion and high-tech, King’s Road has superb antique shops and arcades.

Prices quoted in this article reflect currency exchange rates at the time of writing.