When walking into Mouki Mou’s newly renovated Chiltern Street store, you’re met with immediate calm. The bright yet narrow front room – lined with glass-fronted jewellery cabinets, wall-mounted hangers of delicate floral overshirts and a marble-topped counter – could almost pass for a museum in its quietly curatorial layout.
The boutique, founded by Maria Lemos – who also owns showroom Rainbowwave, which represents international and local independent brands – in 2013, offers a hand-picked selection of independent, globally sourced labels spanning clothing, accessories and homeware. After launching Mouki Mou Athens in 2023 and MII – its sister store, just around the corner at number 17 Chiltern Street – the year after, Lemos felt it was time to show the original space some love. She called in the store’s original interior architect William Russell to execute a thoughtful glow-up.
Preserving the store’s essence was key. “Our regular customers like the fact the space feels very homey,” Lemos says. “Now, it feels more elevated, but still true to itself. It’s like redecorating your house: you don’t want to throw away everything you already had”.
The interiors are clean, minimal and soft, with newly refined lighting that brings a clear focus to the products. Russell replaced the indigo fabric lining of the jewellery cabinets with a warm beige and whitewashed the Dinesen board flooring to lend a gentler feel. Meanwhile, the original grey marble by the till was swapped for a slab shot with a distinctive pink vein, complementing the dusty tones in the wood. A sculptural vase by Georgia Provi takes pride of place in the window beside a Japanese-style bench, a nod to the store’s long-standing affection for Japanese brands (“we go twice a year for research,” Lemos says).
Walking down the winding cast-iron spiral staircase, visitors arrive in a gallery-like labyrinth unfolding across three intimate rooms, each defined by distinctive flooring, from vintage parquet to Greek-style tiles, a quiet nod to Lemos’s heritage. In one room, the shelves are lined with delicate, glass-blown goblets by Okinawa-based maker Miyo Oyabu, and in another there’s a rail with crisp linen shirts and a brushed calf hair jacket from Tokyo-based label Auralee. During the renovation, the original ornate Victorian fireplaces were carefully restored, while new oak elements – including an entire wall dedicated to shoe shelving – were introduced to bring warmth and cohesion.
“If I think back 13 years, this was a shop nobody wanted to take on,” Lemos says. “It’s difficult. It reveals itself to you slowly.”
With the shop finally back to normal duties after a five-week closure, Lemos is now looking forward to expanding the brand’s world, including its Meet the Maker series. Last year, MII hosted Berlin-based luxury knitwear label Wommelsdorff alongside artisan Kashmir-based pashmina maker Yaser Shaw, and more intimate events are in the pipeline.
Mouki Mou
29 Chiltern Street, W1U 7PL
02072244010
Hours:
Mon to Fri 11am–7pm
Sat 10am–6pm
Sun midday–5pm
