This blog has been a bit sporadic recently because I have had a very busy summer either in transit or under the weather (the two might not be unconnected), and I have been working on a biggish project, but I have that back to school feeling, and so want to try and catch up.
The Medieval Historian and I had a day trip to London last week and I decided that I would finally go and have a look in VV Rouleaux, which is a fantastic trimmings shop. You often see it in those how-to-make-your-table-drip-with-Easter-charm type photo shoots in the glossy life style magazines in the side notes: ‘ribbons from a selection at VV Rouleaux’. I’ve been reading this for years, so off we went to look at Marylebone which is an area of London that neither of us know particularly well.
It is a truly sumptuous shop and stocked to the ceiling with beautiful things:
And it has a very old-fashioned charm which calls out for a filter:
The big problem is, though, that there is so much gorgeous stuff that it is overwhelming. I went prepared to spend quite a bit of money as this was one of those visits almost to a shrine, but there was just too much to choose from. Clearly I would have liked the antique braid at £400 per metre, but resisted. The thing I nearly bought was a little befeathered budgie:
I realised that I only wanted one because they reminded me of the budgie I had as a pet when I was a little girl, then that I had nowhere really to put a stuffed budgie and finally that some poor soul in China or Indonesia was probably getting emphysema sticking on the feathers – in that order – so I didn’t buy one.
I think it is a fantastic place if you know what you want or have a specific project in mind, and that would be the time to go. I just really enjoyed walking round gawping at how gorgeous it all was. As I left I took a quick photo of the mannequin in the window:
Also in the vicinity, the splendid Daunt’s Bookshop, and the hilariously cool but great food Conran Shop, also with wonderful picture books, and both have exquisite wrapping paper if you happen to be doing a paper project.
The Medieval Historian was a patient saint throughout.
V V Rouleaux
102 Marylebone Ln,London W1U 2QD
Daunt’s Books
83 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 4QW.
The Conran Shop
55 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5HS.
