I finally have the chance to talk about fashion on my Beautiful Bucharest series. Portobello, a charming atelier-boutique located in the heart of the city, on a side street behind the Romanian Athenaeum. Discreet, simple, coquettish, Portobello is something else. What makes it utterly unique is the fact that every item is made in-store, in the same place where it is merchandised. The clothes are produced in small series, and although they don’t do custom-made, the products can be personalized and adjusted to the customer’s size on request. I find this an antidote to everything fast-fashion, everything high street, a lovely way to directly interact with the customers and make them feel and look different and very special.
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The entire concept was created by the founder, Nadia Popescu. She has thought it up to the tiniest detail: she designed and decorated the interior, designed the tags, the bags, she selects the fabrics, sketches all the designs and does the graphics for the t-shirts. A key element to this concept is the modiste, the one who makes the patterns, cuts and sews the fabrics, the one who transforms Nadia’s sketches into reality. Any customer should feel spoilt knowing that.
What I love about the range of products you can find here is the fact that they are essential pieces in our wardrobe: t-shirts, dresses, skirts, tops and jackets, all made of natural fabrics like cotton, silk and wool, all coming in neutral colours. Ultra-basic, very simple, but true classics. They are easily adaptable for the occasion (for day, office or evening) and can effortlessly take you from one season to another. “The starting point was the simple cotton t-shirt that everyone wears, anytime, and which I find very difficult to find. It’s either cheap and of poor quality, either produced by a famous brand and very expensive”, says Nadia. I always have this same problem. It’s the most basic items that I have the biggest difficulty in finding.
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Although Nadia says she has never been fascinated by fashion, nor does she claim that what she does is fashion design, Portobello aims and has succeeded to offer something original, offbeat, beautifully executed and displayed. “Portobello is not only a business or a form of artistic expression, but rather a project very close to my heart.” And I think this is the secret to its genuine charm.
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photos: taken by me
Address: 2-4, Episcopiei Street, Bucharest
Previous Beautiful Bucharest posts:
Moir concept store
Librăria Bastilia
My beautiful city
I wish you a wonderful week!
I’ll definitely go and take a look next time I’ll be in Bucharest because I love how it looks and how the clothes look from this pictures.
Well, I really have to go & check it out!
I’m feeling inspired, boutiques like this one are essential in this age of bad quality/mass production. Hopefully one day I’ll walk with you on the streets of Bucharest and view all these beautiful places you’ve shared with us so far.
Such a beautiful boutique! I love the comfortable,unique feeling it gives you!
Wonderful! The feel and look of this boutique is so classy and the clothes are very understated, but beautiful. I really like the idea of finding perfect basics under one roof, it’s often the most painful part of a shopping trip because so many things around can be so over the top.
Wishing you a beautiful day, darling!
xxx
I also find the ambiance in boutiques so important when I am shopping as it has too be friendly and never intimidating. This place looks gorgeous!
I m so glad to see this in Bucharest
The little boutiques always provide more inspiration. It’s such hard work to do the whole thing yourself but very gratifying in the end. (I know, I had a studio for 10yrs where I designed, made patterns, cut and sewed every item plus jewellery & accessories).
It looks like a gorgeous shop full of unique surprises. Good on Nadia.
x
PS: 5 hrs and 53 mins…! way too long.
Yes, the match was way too long. Anyway, overall I thought Nadal was the better player. He had a fantastic comeback and he wasn’t allowed to make those errors at the end of the final set. The title would have been his if he hadn’t put his guard down. That was my impression. Djokovic had already been physically beaten.
What a beautiful boutique! I love how beautifully everything displayed – the perfume bottles look so lovely lined up together and the stacked boxes in the shelf are gorgeous. Its amazing to think that everything is made in the store – I don’t think I have come across that before but, I love the concept and think it would be endlessly fascinating to watch! xx
It looks fantastic! I wish I could be there to sample all those beautiful colognes : )
Looks like a wonderful shop. I especially love the anitque sowing table.
Have a splendid week Ada. xx
Priscilla
Oh my goodness what a sweet little shop!
Looks like such a stunning shop
xx
Love the concept! So classy. Will have to go there one day
What a fabulous concept! I would defintiely feel spoiled shopping there. I wish it were here in NYC
xoxo
Like this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kiss
Angela Donava
http://www.lookbooks.fr
Seeing these photo’s the boutique looks beautiful and I really really love what’s going on on those hangers. I’m all for basics and I completely agree they are missed too much. What a fabulous idea to make the clothing in store and adjust it there to the customers’ fitting. I’ve never seen that before, but it sounds like something a lot of people would like! Would love to shop at Portobello for some gorgeous basics;) Hows everything with being snowed in? We got our first tiny layer today.. Ollie didn’t seem to mind very much;)
It’s so lovely! How I wish there was a shop like that here! One day I hope I can visit in person!
Hope you’re off to a lovely Monday Ada.
xo Mary Jo
What style love it!
http://paquetevistasbien.blogspot.com
I love the charming look and feel of the boutique. Nadia’s concept of stocking classic wardrobe essentials is wonderful and I think going beyond that and personalizing items to a customer’s needs certainly would make shopping there quite a special experience. I’m quite drawn to that tangerine tree on the bench. It lends such a homey feel to the place. Thanks for sharing Ada!
Would love to visit this shop and the beautiful city of Bucharest
Hope you have a great day sweets,
axx
I love the shelving – so chic.
Andrea x
Like the Portobello Street in London where you can find lovely vintage jewels and other things, this shop has items you can always wear! Fabulous discovery, Ada, I will pay Portobello boutique a visit! Thanks for sharing
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Ada, I think you just described my ideal shop! The idea of small scale production and attention to details are essential elements to make clothes and accessories unique. And you took beautiful images…
Coco Chanel
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