Opening of Painted Black

This time last year we had just got the keys to the empty shop in Crouch End. We  had lots of work ahead of us. We begged borrowed and begged again for help in painting the shop, putting in lights, building a dressing room and sanding the floors. We made the sign ourselves, brought all the furniture and set pieces from our home and then in January 2012 we opened the door and started trading as Painted Black. With the help of shop dog Rose and raiding our well stocked vintage wardrobe we was able to get by and make some money to invest in some great stock. We like to have a range of vintage from 50’s gowns to quirky 70’s dresses.  We hope that there is something for most people at our flagship shop.

We love the fun of vintage clothes the vivaciousness and also the classic design – that is only every replicate in the high street.

We have hosted loads of events since opening from A Classic Avon Party, Candy Pout nights, Halloween party, the monthly Barboot market and we have had several gigs in the shop from Animal Kingdom to We Are Willow. We want to be more than a shop we want to be a place that is very much community minded – we have sponsored local events like Exposure’s music festival in Queens wood and we have raised money for Ex- battery farmed chickens, Little Hens Rescue.

We have been incredibly lucky and had lots of press attention. Picked as one of Time Outs top 50 vintage shops in London, Winner Best New Vintage shop from The Vintage Guide To London, London Lifestyle Awards finalist. We have been featured in lots of local press and a variety of websites. Some of our clothes made it to gay Paris for a photo for Institute magazine. Sunday Telegraph’s Stella magazine featured an interview with Amelia the owner with an outfit from the shop and we were lucky enough to be the front cover of Living North magazine. We have had in buyers from Topshop to Vogue and are on some really talented stylists lists oh and some Celebes too!

But mostly we feel very lucky to have survived this long in such a difficult economic climate and we look forward to having our one year Birthday in the shop in January .

The new year will bring floating shop rails (so excited) Painted Black is going global with a online shop and loads of more events and gigs.

The hunt continues for more great vintage pieces with Amelia and shop dog Rose