Not the London you see on a postcard. The one you actually have to get dressed for.
There is a particular kind of fashion advice that appears whenever someone wants to explain London style.
Trench coat.
Loafers.
Striped shirt.
Possibly a red lip.
Congratulations. You are now apparently British.
It’s not entirely wrong. It’s just rather more complicated than that.
Because London style has never really been about a uniform.
It’s about adaptability.
You can leave the house looking polished, spend twenty minutes on the Tube, walk three miles because Google Maps has apparently developed a personal grudge against you, and arrive somewhere completely different from where you thought you’d be.
Your outfit needs to cope.
And preferably without looking like it has been designed specifically for coping.
01
London Doesn’t Really Do Perfect
One of the things I love about London style is that it rarely looks too finished.
There is usually something slightly unexpected going on.
A beautiful coat with worn-in trainers. Tailored trousers with a vintage jumper. A very elegant handbag carried with an outfit that looks as though it took approximately four minutes to put together.
And sometimes, yes, a woman walking through Mayfair in six-inch heels at nine in the morning.
I don’t understand her.
I admire her.
But I don’t understand her.
The point is that London style tends to have a bit of friction. Something polished. Something relaxed. Something that says I made an effort without looking like I spent the morning doing so.
That’s the sweet spot.
02
The Coat Does Most of the Work
London gives outerwear an unusually important role.
Partly because of the weather. Mostly because we spend half our lives wearing it.
A good coat can completely change an outfit. A long wool coat over jeans and a knit suddenly feels considered. A trench over a simple dress instantly makes you feel more pulled together. A leather jacket can make tailoring feel less serious.
And a great oversized coat can hide an astonishing amount of poor decision-making underneath.
I’m not saying I’ve tested this scientifically.
I’m just saying I have evidence.
For London, I tend to favour coats with enough structure to hold their shape but enough ease to actually live in. Because if your coat only looks good when you’re standing perfectly still under flattering lighting, it’s not really doing its job.
03
Don’t Dress for the Weather. Dress for the Day.
This is where London gets interesting.
The weather forecast can say: 12°C. Light rain.
What it means is: cold in the morning, warm at lunch, horizontal rain at 4pm, and a strange patch of sunshine at 4:17.
So layering matters. A lightweight knit. A shirt underneath. A jacket that can come off. A coat that doesn’t turn you into a portable duvet. And shoes that can survive a pavements-and-pub-to-dinner kind of day.
Because London outfits often need to do more than one job.
You might start with coffee in Notting Hill, end up in Soho, somehow find yourself in Shoreditch, and then realise you’ve walked approximately the distance between London and France.
Fine.
Your outfit should still be working.
04
The Trainers Are Not a Failure of Style
Let’s talk about trainers.
Because there is still a strange idea that comfortable shoes somehow mean you’ve surrendered.
They don’t.
A clean, well-chosen trainer can be one of the easiest ways to make a polished outfit feel modern. Especially with tailoring.
Wide-leg trousers and a simple trainer. Long coat. Knit. Good bag. Done.
The trick is keeping the rest of the outfit intentional.
Comfort isn’t the problem. Looking as though you dressed exclusively for comfort is.
There is a difference.
And frankly, if I’m walking around London all day, I would rather be comfortable and chic than limping heroically towards dinner because I wanted my shoes to make a point.
05
London Style Needs a Little Personality
This is where I think the internet sometimes gets London wrong.
It tries to turn the city into a moodboard. Everything becomes beige, black, trench coats and expensive coffee.
But London is much more interesting than that.
There is colour. There is vintage. There is eccentricity.
Some women can combine a floral dress, enormous sunglasses and trainers and somehow make the whole thing look completely intentional. There are women in immaculate tailoring. Women in denim. Women in all black. Women wearing something that I absolutely wouldn’t wear and secretly wishing I could pull it off.
That’s London.
The city doesn’t require you to fit into one aesthetic.
It rewards you for having your own.
06
The Things I Keep Coming Back To
If I were building a London wardrobe from scratch, I’d start with pieces that can move between different parts of the city.
A great coat. Straight or wide-leg trousers. Good denim. A simple knit. A crisp shirt. A versatile jacket. A comfortable trainer. A polished flat or ankle boot. A bag that can actually hold things.
And one piece with a little personality.
Because you need something that isn’t entirely sensible.
Fashion without a little mischief is just administration.
07
What I Wouldn’t Bother With
I wouldn’t buy something just because it has been labelled “London girl style.” There isn’t a London girl uniform.
I wouldn’t sacrifice comfort for an outfit that looks impressive for twelve minutes.
I wouldn’t buy a wardrobe entirely in neutrals because someone told me it would look more expensive.
And I definitely wouldn’t dress for Instagram before dressing for the actual city.
London is a living, moving place.
Your clothes should be able to move with it.
The Koda View
I think the best London style has always had a little bit of contradiction in it. Polished, but not precious. Practical, but never boring. Classic, but not predictable. And just slightly undone. It's the woman in the beautiful coat carrying a coffee in one hand and her phone in the other, walking far too quickly because she's late for something. It's the woman who looks effortlessly chic until you notice she's wearing three layers because she checked the weather app four times. It's the woman who knows exactly what suits her — and occasionally ignores her own rules just because she feels like it. That's what I like about London. Nobody really gets dressed for one version of the day. You dress for whatever happens next. And usually, something does.
