Shrimpton Couture was born as a result of being an obsessive girl who wanted it all and wanted everything to be beautiful and perfect.

From as far back as I can remember clothes have held a fascination for me. Innately I knew that given the right wardrobe a girl could lead the life she wanted. People always laugh when I tell them all the success I have had in my life was born out of the need to have a closet full of Yves Saint Laurent and Dior, sprinkled in amongst pristine Ossie Clark's and a row of beaded silk flapper dresses. They don't really believe me and assume I am saying it to amuse, but the truth is that, well that is the truth. Clothes are not just clothes. Clothes, and especially vintage clothing, represent to me the countless women who have led extraordinary lives and I want to follow their examples. When you pick up an exquisite bias cut silk floral chiffon gown from the 1930s, with each of it's stitches painstakingly, and perfectly, done by hand; one cannot help but wonder about the girl that once dreamed of her future life while wearing that dress.

Clothes are magic...they can transport you from an ordinary girl to the belle of the ball.

From an innocent girl to a femme fatale.

That is a powerful seduction.

Modern clothes are wonderful things and everyone who knows me knows I also buy from the vast selection of our present designers, but vintage is different. Once you discover vintage it is actually quite hard to shop regular retail anymore. There is something about the cut.... the fabrication.... and the attention to detail that is addictive. Modern clothing can offer these things as well, but to truly get a comparable garment you are often restricted to the very upper echelons of the fashion hierarchy. Maybe vintage is so different because often each stitch on a garment was finished by hand, or that the fabrics just feel "truer", more attention was paid and less mass production was done. The cut on a vintage garment is different - more in line with the individual body rather then a mass-market pattern. But I am an open-minded girl - you need a bit of both really - old & new. To have a truly fabulous closet that will allow you to live a truly fabulous life, you need to fill it with clothes that tell the story of you, whether that means clothes that are vintage or just off the runway. But they have to shout to the world that they mean you and you have to feel like you when wearing them - through and through.

And then you have to wear then with a dash of disdain and dollop of wit.

I am a shopper and for the longest of times way back at the beginning of my journey, that is all it was about - shopping for my closet and me. Then one day I found a dress by a designer or two that I particularly liked and would pick up a piece here and a piece there, just to have examples of their work. Then the day came when I came home with a dress that was not even in my size but that was OK cause I just-had-to-have-it. That is when you are officially a collector (which is a nice name for someone who has gone a bit overboard). What happens next is pretty easy to guess - once you have a room (or two-ish) full of vintage dresses in all sort of sizes and a few girlfriends who discover you have all these lovely dresses - well, it's all over. I became "the girl to call if someone wanted a dress no one else would have" and ironically I found out that I was also the "girl who could match up a dress with a girl and it would be just right".

I was suddenly the equivalent of the Goldilocks dress matchmaking service by default. And I liked it.

I adore vintage.

I can get lost in the beauty of a fabric and certain dresses will never, ever leave my closet because they belong there - whether they are wearable by me or not. When my burgeoning rooms filled to the bursting with my "collection" just got to be too much and I had total strangers suddenly calling me from referrals from friends to "please help them find them a dress"; when everyone I knew said to me "why don't you open a shop?" ...that is when I decided to launch Shrimpton Couture.

I am really proud of where Shrimpton is going these days. This re-designed site feels like a breath of fresh air and I hope you love it too. It's still me, completely and totally, but it's all the fabulous girls out there who have bought their vintage frocks from the site since the beginning and gave me their ideas and suggestions to make the site what it is now. So yes, it is still me, but it now has a bit of all my gorgeous wonderful clients mixed in! And it is, and always will be, a work in progress - I may deal with frocks of the past but baby its a technical world out there and I hope to always push the site forward so it gets better and better to shop on.

You will find the best of the best name and label-wise, side by side with unlabeled treasures. I am a snob when it comes to quality and cut, and after those two criteria are met - that is when the name on the label comes into play. I personally OK each garment that you will find on this site. Garments make the cut based on their beauty, relevance and whether they will still work now. Occasionally you will find a piece that is only offered on a collectible basis because it is just too good to let go of and quite frankly, sometimes garments that may not be wearable anymore deserve their place too. Very early pieces are almost like art and occasionally I will offer them up for the collector. The new site allows me to add tons of stock but I have enhanced the search options so it does not get overwhelming. I personally don't like having to go through pages and pages of mundane stock so try to only find the most beautiful, unique and mouth watering of pieces for you. My inventory will change constantly and only the best pieces will ever be offered.

Cleaned, pristine, as good as it gets, vintage pieces. I won't send it any other way. When you get a dress from me - you can steam it and wear it that night. It's sent cleaned. It's sent pressed. It's sent with its buttons gone over and poppers tightened and seams checked. It's sent in a pretty box with a pretty tag. It's as important that you love to open my packages as you love what is inside it. I want happy, repeat clients that know they can trust what I say and what I send. Shrimpton Couture is a happy place to shop and I won't have it any other way.

Check back at least once a week - I usually post a dozen to two dozen pieces every week. If you don’t have time to check back often, follow me on twitter, read the blog or add yourself to the email list and you will get our weekly newsletter.

My goal is to have Shrimpton Couture be the BEST place you have ever shopped at

Period