New York – vintage stores & 'work shirts' sources?

[Mr Badger]

Apologies if this is the wrong part of FD to post this (I did try and work it out!)...

My wife and I are off to visit pals in Memphis this week, will then be spending three nights in New York. Strangely, an old Memphis pal of ours works for Brooklyn's Beacon's Closet, the vintage store, but where else has a decent selection of used clothes, particularly 'top loop' shirts?

Also, can any NY area FDers confirm whether they've seen any nice J Crew (or other brand) 'work shirts' (pref chinstrap) recently? If so, would they be so kind as to let me know which outlet and an idea of prices?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Marla]

Having been to Beacon's Closet several times I've never seen any vintage clothes there. It has more of a hipster vibe with 70s and 80s clothes, and a lot of used modern as well. Screaming Mimi's on Lafayette St. in Manhattan has nice vintage things, especially for women. Resurrection Vintage on Mott is also worth a stop.

 

[Feraud]

Also, can any NY area FDers confirm whether they've seen any nice J Crew (or other brand) 'work shirts' (pref chinstrap) recently? If so, would they be so kind as to let me know which outlet and an idea of prices?

Many thanks in advance!

JCrew (Madison & 45th.), The Gap (Times Square), and the Levi's store (either the Times Square or Lex. Ave & 58st. location) sell chinstrap workshirt shirts. I think JCrew retails around 100 USD and the others vary in the less than 100 dollar range and according to what is currently on sale.

 

[Speedbird]

Having been to Beacon's Closet several times I've never seen any vintage clothes there. It has more of a hipster vibe with 70s and 80s clothes, and a lot of used modern as well. Screaming Mimi's on Lafayette St. in Manhattan has nice vintage things, especially for women. Resurrection Vintage on Mott is also worth a stop.

fftopic: This is a genuine question so don't shoot me; but what classifies as Vintage? Does it have to pre-date the 70's?

If so, what is category are 70's and 80's clothes in?

Seriously, this is a genuine question - not an invitation for a hand bagging

 

[Marla]

fftopic: I think here on the lounge vintage is generally considered to be 1920s-1960s, with anything after that classified as retro. That's how many vintage sellers not affiliated with the lounge identify their goods as well.

 

[Speedbird]

Thank you, Marla.

I was struggling with the vintage-retro-modern cut off points. Mainly in the context of things made more recently (pre-2000) designed in the style of something older (pre-1970). I get easily befuddled :eusa_doh:

You have clarified it for me very well.

Beautiful photo avatar BTW

 

[Mr Badger]

Hey folks, thanks for the tips. NYC was actually pretty lucrative for clothing – I nabbed a brown chambray Gap chinstrap shirt, and a blue plaid chinstrap workshirt from Levi's '1853' workwear collection, plus a very 40s-looking 'open weave' type of sweatshirt in pale tan fleck with dark cuffs... all on sale!

Walking down 5th Ave, we found Cheap Jack's, a v. large vintage store which was vastly overpriced but, luckily, had a '50% off up to $130', '30% off up to...', etc sale (with certain mind boggling, 'not if it's already been reduced' provisos). I bagged a very nice white gab repro shirt-jac with three-tone stripes for $27.50 and considered myself very happy.

Over in Brooklyn there's quite a few vintage stores apart from Beacon's Closet (which was mainly 60s-70s and onwards, as suggested), mainly centered around the Bedford Ave area.

However, especially as my wife was concerned, the finest vintage emporiums we've been to a in a looong while were the two Japanese-run places – one for textiles & such, the other with clothes – near the corner of 7th Ave & Rodney St. Wow! Seems like these folks must pay top dollar for high-end bales from vintage dealers, ship the finest stuff to Japan and then rack up the remainder. My wife bought a lovely mint 40s ranch shirt for $35, and an equally amazing and seemingly deadstock 40s rayon print dress with a built-in underskirt for $110. Even with a crappy exchange rate (£1 = $1.40-ish), this was seriously excellent vintage shopping.

Unfortunately, being 6' 4", there wasn't anything for me. I did try on a nice mid-60s G1 with a real fur collar & decent knits for $150 but it had a not-so-hot replacement zipper, and also a coupla lovely 40s gab shirts in the $35 range, which were too short in the arms.

The back room of the right-hand Japanese-run place has an amazing array of 30s-50s stuff for guys & gals, at quite reasonable prices. I'd make a beeline for it if you're in NYC!

 

[skyvue]

The back room of the right-hand Japanese-run place has an amazing array of 30s-50s stuff for guys & gals, at quite reasonable prices. I'd make a beeline for it if you're in NYC!

Any idea of the names of those establishments?

 

[Mr Badger]

Here are shots of the exterior / interior:

My wife's found her receipt, it's curiously-named:

10ft Single by Stella Dallas
285 N 6th St
(between Havemeyer St & Meeker Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 486-9482


There's also a video someone's posted on YouTube, albeit with a moderne 'rock' soundtrack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7ieIrrjIIE

 

[mattfink]

I've been in 10ft. Single a few times...never bought anything. I'm sure they're not shipping L/XL clothes to Jaypan.

 

[Mr Badger]

I've been in 10ft. Single a few times...never bought anything. I'm sure they're not shipping L/XL clothes to Jaypan.

Sorry, you're right, that's prolly jetlag logic... guess the L/XL sized stuff flies out to locals, there's never enough to go around. It just made a nice change for us Limeys to be able to grokk a load of decent real vintage stuff in one place, as opposed to E*ay guesswork. Now that Camden Town market's half been knocked down to build a block of apartments, meaning no more browsing 'the arches', and given the dearth of what we'd call 'real' vintage in stores you woulda suspected had at least a few nice pieces, it was great.

If we hadn't been worried about going over Continental airline's palty 50lb checked baggage limit (that's per case, first one free, $50 for any further items!), I woulda bagged some boots.

Here's meself outside the Brill Building, havin' fun:

Jaxxon 'Big Apple' cap (commented upon by five or six peeps per day, unbelievably enuff!), Aero goat A2, five-button GI sweater, Edwin Nashville selvege jeans & Acme buckle roper boots... and, yes, I had a shave!

 

[Bassman]

Great cap Mr. B.!

 

[Mr Badger]

All-American, mate!

Pretty cheap and well made, too...

Available from www.hatsandcaps.co.uk for the princely sum of £14.95 plus postage... or $18 plus shipping from www.villagehatshop.com

You can see it a little better in this shot of meself & the missus:

 

[Bassman]

Unforunately for me, it's a "one size fits most" and I require an XL.
I like your choices of beverages too!

 

[Mr Badger]

Well, I take a 7 1/2 or a 7 3/8 in hats and it was a smidge tight when I got it, due to the elasticated headband, but it got more comfortable...