A weekend flea market became her springboard: Having managed a stand at Portobello market for five years, Fiona Stuart and two friends were pioneers in opening Rellik, a vintage boutique. “Vintage was still pretty unusual back then,” she explains, “but these days there’s plenty of great stuff to choose from in London. I see inter-national designers, models and stylists combing through the shops looking for rarities and inspiration.” She’s a big fan herself, of course, and not just of vintage fashion – here are her favourite vintage addresses in London.

#1 Rellik

Rellik sells fashion items from the 1930s onwards by well-known designers, and all top quality. Hanging from the stands you will find colourful Ossie Clark dresses and blouses by Romeo Gigli or Laroche, the shelves are crowded with bags, hats and jewellery. For 650 pounds you can pick up a bright wool coat by Yohji Yamamoto, for 65 pounds a pair of sunglasses by Versace. relliklondon.co.uk

#2 Panella

Caterina Coraggio and Giuseppe di Matteo manage this charmingly chaotic lunch and café spot which would certainly not look out of place in any film from the fifties. The colourful and eclectic furniture provides the perfect backdrop to enjoy Sicilian street food and the best of Mamma’s recipes: arancini, aubergine roulade, gnochetti alla Norma. Delicious! panella.co.uk

#3 The Gate Picturehouse

It remains opulent, plush and red to this day – built in 1861, this building once housed a brothel. On the ground floor of the establishment, in what is now a beautifully wood-panelled cinema, there was a restaurant, and only that. The hall is currently used to screen major productions of quality. picturehouses.com

#4 Rockins

The name fits perfectly: Jess and Tim Rockins design fashion in the glam-rock style of the 1970s. They started out with silk scarves in colourful prints – the first was created as a gift for Kate Moss. These days, the shop is filled with exotic items such as fir-green velvet suits, denim overalls, leopard print pyjamas for the evening and black leather coats. rockins.co.uk

#5 Mary Quant at V&A

Miniskirts, hot pants, cheerful bright colours – the London designer Mary Quant was the undisputed fashion icon of the swinging sixties. Her designs were in-spired by the beatnik style and shaped the look of this era. The V&A Museum is currently hosting a major retrospective of her modern, unfussy and very wearable models. Runs until February 2020. vam.ac.uk

#6 Poppies Fish & Chips

“It’s not rocket science, all it takes is a job well done,” says Pat “Pop” Newland, founder of the fish&chips shop in the popular Shoreditch district. Poppies is decorated in 1950s style, the fish comes from a long-established dealer and the legendary chips are made fresh every day, by hand. poppiesfishandchips.co.uk

#7 Hirst Collection

As a child, Amanda Wringley followed her mother around the antiques markets, by the age of twelve she had her own small stand where she sold plastic pearl neck-laces. These days she has moved up to Dior colliers, Fendi earclips and Chanel brooches, as bought and worn by Sienna Miller, Megan Fox and other customers from all over the world. thehirstcollection.etsy.com

#8 The Cow

Owned by Sir Terence Conran’s son Tom, this upmarket pub has a very cool vintage look: a jukebox in the entrance, red linoleum on the floor and green leather benches. The oysters and the Cow Fish Stew (a sort of bouillabaisse) are bestsellers, and with a little luck you may even find yourself sitting next to the Beckhams or Paul and Stella McCartney. thecowlondon.co.uk

#9 Portobello Hotel

Easily overlooked, it is precisely this inconspicuousness which attracts the VIP guests. Step inside, however, and the interior of this almost 50-year-old 21-room hotel is well worth seeing: bathtubs with Victorian paw feet, four-poster beds with their turned wooden frames and the sort of atmosphere which reflects the unconventional style of Notting Hill. portobellohotel.com

#10 Les Couilles du Chien

This curiously named shop is a treasure trove of high-quality vintage furniture. The owner, Frenchman Jerome Dodd, only buys and sells what he actually likes himself: beautifully crafted mid-century arm-chairs and sofas, filigree metal and crystal lamps made to look like palm trees and half-blind Venetian mirrors from the 1950s. lescouillesduchien.com