London Tour 2027
July 23-28, 2027
Step into a rare, curated journey through London and Oxford—centered on the world of children’s fashion and design, where clothing becomes a lens through which to understand identity, tradition, and cultural storytelling.
This is not a typical tour. It is an insider’s experience crafted for those who are drawn to the intersection of youth, style, and creative expression—exploring how children’s fashion has reflected everything from royal expectation to rebellion, from heritage to modern individuality.
Over six immersive days, guests will move through the city not as tourists, but as insiders—guided into spaces where children’s design, historical dress, and contemporary fashion culture intersect in meaningful and often unexpected ways.
Antique Markets and Second-Hand Children’s Shops
The tour is designed around London’s three biggest antique markets on Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday. It will also include the best second-hand shops for children’s clothes in London and Oxford.
Participants will be able to shop like a collector and be assisted in identifying quality vintage pieces, appropriately aging a garment, discerning value, and learn how to mend and care for vintage and antique finds. Encounter garments and artifacts outside institutional framing: worn, altered, repurposed.
Historical Traditions and Performances
The tour will include London’s major historical sites—The Tower, Westminster Abbey, the Globe, and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Participants will be guided through the legends of each place with an Oxford-trained British history expert.
It will also include inspiring performances at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Opera House, and Shakespeare's (reconstructed) Globe Theatre.
Hospitality & Dining
Dining throughout the program is approached as an extension of cultural study. Restaurants and culinary shops included on the tour have been selected for their historical significance, design quality, and culinary excellence. Participants will enjoy traditional afternoon tea in one of Mayfairs’ most exclusive settings, shopping for tea in London’s oldest tea shop, dining in a favorite haunt of Oscar Wilde, wandering the food stalls of London’s most historic (and delectable!) food market, enjoy the historic culinary connection to India within Parliament’s one-time Art Deco library, and sip a coffee or cocoa in the oldest coffee shop in Oxford.
Participants will stay (and eat breakfast) in a boutique hotel in St. James which has been chosen for its historic charm, culinary excellence, comfort, and proximity to all London has to offer.
Designing Childhood
The tour will be guided in part by a design historian. She will teach us about the history of children’s design and fashion throughout the centuries at each historic place visited. The tour will also include a special visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum’s library and archival access to children’s garments from various eras. The design historian will teach us the histories of craft, pedagogy, and domestic life. The Schiaparelli exhibition will offer a counterpoint to the V&A’s archives—foregrounding imagination, surrealism, and the subversion of convention.
At Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace, we will learn the rules of dress for the smallest royals through the ages, as well as how royal choices have dictated children's fashion over the last century. At the Tower, we will learn about the fashion choices of the headless queens of King Henry the VIII.
Oxford
The tour will conclude with a half-day in Oxford, which will feature a historical walking-tour of charming Oxford where Kings plotted, heretics were burned, Alice can still be found in Wonderland, and Harry Potter can sometimes be spotted at witching hour.
Visitors will be able to visit the Bodleian Library and Magdalen and Christ Church colleges along with a country walk to a country pub the Inklings frequented, the ghost of a medieval kings’ mistress still haunts, and Aslan and roving peacocks can still be seen.
Payment Information
Early Bird Rate: $3,800 total
30% deposit due by May 31, 2026
Standard Rate: $4,100 total
30% deposit due by September 30, 2026
*Important information regarding payment method: A 2.9% + $0.30 fee is assessed to all payments to account for credit card processing fees. If you pay via ACH transfer, you will be refunded this difference after the payment has been processed.
