For this trip to Camden, the season is festive and good taste is, apparently, last season. I am looking for a Christmas jumper with a bit of character: ideally something from a vintage shop rather than a new design from the usual seasonal ranges.
My video, originally published on 10 December 2015, follows the search through Camden’s streets and markets before heading home to reveal the purchase. There is also a festive fashion show, although the modelling advice should not be taken too seriously.
Watch the Camden Christmas-jumper hunt
A December walk through Camden
The outing starts around Camden Town and heads towards the market. Colourful shopfronts, crowds and the Camden Lock bridge give the opening walk its familiar backdrop. There is plenty to look at before I even reach the clothes rails.
Much of the video is a walk through the market rather than a running commentary. It takes in brick market buildings, narrow passages and stalls that invite a closer look. The camera lingers on the details that make browsing here so enjoyable.
Clothes, colour and an eclectic mix
In the video, I describe Camden as an assault on the senses: food smells, incense, different music and a mix of modern and vintage goods. The Christmas-jumper mission is a good excuse to wander, but it is easy to get distracted along the way.
Clothing hangs densely along the passages, while other stalls are filled with small decorative objects and gifts. The pleasure is in looking through the displays and seeing what turns up, rather than arriving with one exact item already chosen.
Food stalls and a pause by the canal
The walk also passes the food counters, with dishes and ingredients laid out close to the market traffic. They add another layer to the colour and activity of the visit.
By the water, the pace changes. Boats sit along the canal and people cross the footbridge as the daylight fades. After a good look around the markets, it is time to head home for the promised festive fashion show.
The £20 Scooby-Doo Christmas jumper
Back at home, I reveal a black jumper with Scooby-Doo and a colourful Christmas design. The shop is named in the video as Vintage Basement, with its ticket giving Unit 88, Stables Market, Chalk Farm Road. The price paid on this visit was £20.
I do not know the jumper’s exact age. Although it came from a vintage clothing shop, I say in the video that it could be relatively recent. Its appeal is the design and the festive spirit, rather than a confirmed production date.
Even the shop ticket provides a talking point, with a motivational quotation printed on the back. Then the jumper goes on, ready for its less-than-serious modelling debut beside the Christmas tree.
A festive fashion show at home
The final section turns into a playful guide to posing for Christmas photographs. There are exaggerated pouts, a nod to Zoolander’s Blue Steel and attempts to find just the right expression for the camera.
The closing jump-shot sequence takes things a little further. It is a suitably silly finish to a day that began with a simple shopping mission: find a Christmas jumper, explore Camden and bring home something fun.
Archive visit: 10 December 2015. Prices, shop details and displays describe this visit, not current stock or availability. All photographs are original stills from the Roberts London video.
