Ducie Keam George

I grew  in Notting Hill and hold an incredibly special place for it in my heart, it has this sense about it glamorous yet grungy, beautiful yet rough around the edges. Its awesome! Portobello market especially rocks. I actually had a stall in the green selling vintage clothing and pieces I had made myself, definitely easier said than done waking up at 5am in the morning queueing for hours on end was definitely an aspect of the job I do not miss but meeting new people was brilliant.

Two girls I met called Maddie and Alexandra Weaver work on the stall DUCIE for Ducie Keam George a designer I first discovered at London Fashion Week. The stall is along the green selling beautiful silk dresses, tops, jumpsuits, fur gilets and snoods. I have in my time purchased 4 Ducie items and have been hooked ever since. Facebookers out their join her facebook page 'I LOVE DUCIE CLOTHES' and be informed about sale's opening events, new stock etc.


Designer Ducie Keam-George inherited a love for all things vintage from her mother. She grew up in somewhat of a dress-up box, which was home to both the family and to her mother’s abundant collection of Twenties slips, dresses and corsets, hoarded from nearby Petticoat Lane Markets and other London haunts. While her mother’s innate sense of style hugely influenced key pieces in Ducie’s largely boudoir-style collection, it was travel and time spent in Delhi that really initiated the conception of Ducie, the label.

The label was founded in 2004 by Ducie and her husband Dan.  They set off on what began as a sabbatical, but ended up being nine months of intensive introduction to all things fashion research and production, all the while living and working in an entirely foreign culture in Delhi.

The collection was launched later that year, and sold via a stall at Portobello Market which quickly attracted a strong and loyal client list, growing purely by word of mouth. Portobello doubled as a fantastic market research tool for Ducie, as they were able to get instant feedback from each customer on the fit and fabric, even asking which buttons and colours they preferred. Ducie & Dan spent three years between London and Delhi, gauging their clients’ responses on market day – with no investment made on public relations – and making the necessary adjustments for a faultless, fully trans-seasonal collection.

The first collection received the highest praise from UKVogue’s fashion director Lucinda Chambers, with London boutiques Coco Ribbon, Heidi Klein, Question Air and Mimi quickly ordering the collection’s best sellers. Ducie was featured in Grazia, ES magazine, Sunday Times Style, Stella, vogue.com and Stylefinder.com. Los Angeles was the logical next step and top US agent Gaby Schneider placed Ducie in the best locations.

The label now boasts a collection of 12 beautifully made pieces ranging from Grecian silk dresses and languid maxis to lightweight furs and hooded scarves. The cotton and silk dresses are now available online in a rich selection of beautiful colours, all with carefully considered details including ornate gold or delicate crystal buttons. Ducie has a loyal client base in Dubai, Australia and of course the UK, where the label has outperformed big designer names at London Fashion Weekend, consistently achieving a place in the top 4 out of 150 designers – alongside the likes of D&G and Luella.

Sadly the beautiful Maddie and Alexandra don't actually work for Ducie anymore but find them near by the DUCIE stall with their new Jewelry Line.