Vintage clothing has always been a bit of a secret passion of mine. Back in the day, when momma Saynt couldn’t afford to get us name brand, we’d shop spots like Salvation Army, Goodwill, and a slew of NYC vintage shops for my wardrobe. Growing up poor gave me a broader appreciation for well made clothes and an undoubting hatred for moths (vile dusty butterflies, if you ask me).

I guess that’s one of the reasons I love The Family Vintage, an ebay shop run by one of our cult members. Check out what they have in store this week.

LINK LOVE: http://www.cultindie.com/xn/detail/2394740:BlogPost:67924

READ MORE ABOUT: ebay, The Family Vintage, vintage

Super cute, modern take on vintage, dress by Free People. Love the colors and the open back, and for $108 you can’t go wrong.

Buy it at ShopBop

READ MORE ABOUT: Free People, mini dress, shop dress, vintage

Kate Moss has released the ads for her 4th consecutive women’s fragrance. Vintage is a unique blend of fruity smelling scents that produce that perfect bottled-up perfume. The fragrance, which will be sold in conjunction with other body products, will hit store shelves this September.

LINKAGE: NYMag

READ MORE ABOUT: kate moss, perfume, The Six Scents, vintage

These shots of Kate the Great we’re just uncovered from the Dazed & Confused magazine archives. You’ll never guess the stylist!!!

READ MORE ABOUT: Dazed & Confused, kate moss, Katie Grand, vintage

I’m all for the 80’s comeback if you leave the shoulder pads at home, but this edit is so 80’s inspired I had to think twice before titling this post “Vintage Spread-Um”. There’s a grainy tonal quality to these photos that leads me to believe they have been sitting under someone’s bed gathering dust for the last 25 years. Perfectly vintage inspired or super dated? Check the gallery on cult to decide.

GALLERY: Midtown Crisis for QVEST

SOUCE: Fashion Gone Rouge

READ MORE ABOUT: 80's comeback, Grainy Photos, qvest, Txema Yeste, vintage

Check out the entire article on Dazed Digital!

READ MORE ABOUT: betsy johnson, cfda, dazed digital, opening ceremony, vintage

Bitching & Junkfood is a new, killer vintage store. They sell mostly 80s and 90s, and keep your eye on this site, every once in awhile they’re going to feature stuff for free. That’s right, FREE. They don’t announce when/where, but it’s a true story! Check out what they have here.

SOURCE: Kingdom Of Style

READ MORE ABOUT: bitching & junkfood, kingdom of style, vintage

READ MORE ABOUT: kate by kate moss, kate moss, vintage

READ MORE ABOUT: melie bianco, Mohawk, vintage

LA nightlife photographer the Cobrasnake just starting selling vintage on his website. The goods being offered are neon fanny packs, see-through jumpsuits, off-the-shoulder leopard-print unitards, and so forth. He also seems to be specializing in t-shirts that people wore at overnight camp in 1992, like the above.

READ MORE ABOUT: cobrasnake, PHOTOGRAPHERS, vintage

This may be the one and only time that I compliment Amber Rose on her look, but I can’t deny the coolness of these vintage Chanel shades. The chain is sick (that would be Bronx speak for uber hot) and love the magenta lipstick with the bright green leather jacket. Now, where’s Kanye???

READ MORE ABOUT: Amber Rose, Chanel, Kanye West, vintage

Metropolitan Pavilion
125 W. 18th St.
(Btwn. 6th & 7th Aves.)
New York, NY 10011
Save $5 Off Admission

READ MORE ABOUT: vintage

Mad Men’s costume director reveals that vodka is the secret ingredient in a mixture that will remove that moth balls, sweat and death stench from your vintage finds. It can also be used to make a killer cocktail.

READ MORE ABOUT: mad men, vintage

I feel like there has been too much bad fashion this weekend. I thought I would end with a vintage Moment of Style. Here’s Renee Zellweger, pre-lemon face, at the Oscar’s in 2001

READ MORE ABOUT: Celebrity Style, renee zellweger, vintage

So what exactly is the definition of vintage? We’ve been wondering ever since a buyer friend of ours tried to claim her H&M skirt was vintage cause she bought it two seasons ago. We found an answer to the question on Catwalk Creative, an online UK shopping site that specializes in goodies from a past era.

As a relatively new term, its meaning is open to much interpretation. Dealers haven’t officially established what defines and differentiates vintage from antique, recycled (secondhand) and retro. Consumers – and some dealers – use the word ‘vintage’ as a collective term that defines anything old. For clarification, purists would categorize ‘old clothes’ as the following:

• Antique clothing refers to any garments that pre-date 1920 (the nineteenth century; the Belle Epoque era).
• Vintage is anything that dates after 1920 and up to the mid 1980s.
• Retro mainly refers to Sixties’ and Seventies’ casual wear.
• Recycled (secondhand) is anything post early Eighties – not strictly ‘vintage’ clothing in the generic sense of the word.

If you can’t remember all of the above, remember only this: anything less than twenty to twenty-five years old is NOT ‘vintage’.

So rocking a pair of bleached overalls you found at Goodwill that look like they fell of the set of Saved by the Bell doesn’t make you a vintage queen. Keep that in mind indies as style quickly falls into 90’s.  You’re not rocking vintage, you’re rocking recycled.

READ MORE ABOUT: Anatomy of a Look, saved by the bell, vintage

Above T-shirt designed by artist Kenzo Minami for Alex + Chloe.  Enzyme washed for a great vintage affect and feel. Available for $154 on their site.

Thanks Highsnobette for pointing this out.

READ MORE ABOUT: alex and chloe, Cheap Shit, kenzo minami, Tees & Sympathy, vintage

Here is a scan from an old issue of Elle Magazine dating back to 1989.

Look what we used consider fashionable!

Aren’t you glad the lace-up-oversized-blazers never caught on!

[the fashion spot]

READ MORE ABOUT: Elle, Ghost of Fashion Past, june, old, vintage

‘look ma, no photoshop’

Many indie girls shed a tear when indie label Mooka Kinney disbanded. But indie-girls have no fear, one-half of the design duo Rachel Antonoff has started her own label and asked her famous friends to model. Take a peek at Antonoff’s lookbook featuring Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat and A-lister Scarlett Johansson. Expect loads of vintage silhouettes and lots of details. 

[Source]

READ MORE ABOUT: mooka kinney, rachel antonoff, scarlett johansson, vintage

Here is a photo of 1980’s super-model Gia Carangi modeling for Armani. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because she was the model famously portrayed by Angelina Jolie in the tv-movie Gia. Here she is doing classic cheesy catalogue poses:

As you can see by these photos fashion may have changed but Armani hasn’t.

READ MORE ABOUT: armani, Gia, Old Ad, vintage

I am quickly becoming obsessed with looking like a bum. Seriously, it’s like some weird fashion turn-on when I see people dressed in designers labels that look distressed or carrying an iconic handbag that’s been destroyed with wear.  I sense that “instant vintage” is becoming a newish trend and that more and more mainstream designers will pick up the look that indies like 3:33 Footwear have made a must have.

One spot that seems to feel in agreement to the trend is Hollywood Trading Company, a little shop out of California that has an amazing selection of vintage feeling work boots. Of course, if you can’t find a designer willing to destroy their goods for you, there’s always Beacons Closet or Buffalo Exchange, where you will find a great selection of pre-worn boots and footwear at rock bottom prices.

READ MORE ABOUT: 3:33 footwear, boots, hollywood trading company, vintage

The clever retailers at American Apparel recently introduced California Select, a curated selection of the brand’s favorite vintage finds culled from around the world. The pieces are one-of-a-kind and in keeping with their ongoing ’70s soft-porn fashion aesthetic.

California Select is a lot like having your own personal stylist and it’s a great easy way to shop for vintage clothing. The collection includes colorful dresses, vintage t-shirts, swimsuits, button-downs, sweaters and even some vintage high fashion labels. Check out the featured selections at American Apparel or go straight to their eBay storefront to see it all.

And as much as I don’t respect AA (for their business practices, advertisements, overpriced tees, bleach washed denim…I could go on and on) this this was pretty smart. I even checked out the pieces and they are very cute, vintage, and reasonably priced, with most items ranging between $16-$35. I might even bid on the black cocktail mini (above).

READ MORE ABOUT: AMERICAN APPAREL, california select, vintage

Manhattan’s premier vintage clothing store, What Comes Around Goes Around, is having a sample sale too. Everything in the store is marked down by 20 percent. Thursday, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

What Comes Around Goes Around,

351 West Broadway (near Broome Street),

(212) 343-9303,

nyvintage.com

READ MORE ABOUT: sale, vintage, what comes around goes around

There is nothing more gratifying to a fashion person than saying something is “vintage”.  It is by far the one thing that if they were allowed, would slip in and out of every single sentence they form. Dresses, shoes, seal skin knickers all things are game in the vintage game. Of course, it is a well held secret amongst fashion people that most of the shit they claim is from some era before H&M are actually from the house that Hennes & Mauritz built.

Shock. Awe. And more shock, right?  It’s true non-fashion people, most fashion people are liars that would rather claim something is old as Jesus than admit that they picked it up from the bargain bin of H&M, Urban Outfitters, or worse Forever 21.  The reason. While some might claim it’s due to the fact that in fashion years one season is more than enough time to claim something as “vintage” (it’s true we live in dog years), the truth is that fashion people are not allowed to claim that they shop at any fast retailers.

Ya see, a long, long time ago around the year that Tommy Hilfiger was reanimated by the Nazi’s to take over American fashion and Anna Wintour sacrificed Grace Mirabella to her father Bealzabub fewer brands were being marketed to the public in the pages of Vogue.  Fewer ads meant less direction for the proposed fashion elite.  Then came branding initiatives from Tommy, Cowboy Ralph and hundreds of other whores, which quickly created marketing opportunities to guide the hudled fashion masses.  The marketing came in the form of logos, labels and other easily identifiable images that defined how much something was worth. Wear a good label and suddenly your worth  a hell of a lot more.

Over the years this practiced defined which stores fashion people could shop at without looking like their poor unfashionable brethren.  Over-priced fashion was king and all was good in the land of Wintour.  Of course, then came the Vintage Craze and suddenly everyone wanted those shitty, labelless collections that fashion people had once shunned. A new wave of fashionistas we’re dropping serious dough on $10 J.C.Penny dresses from the 70’s and discounted Woolworth moo-moo’s from the 60’s.  The shitty fashions of yesteryears we’re becoming the must have items of today.  Which  brings us back to H&M, Urban Outfitters and Forever 21.  See, it’s okay for a fashion person to shop at those spots now, because even though they aren’t really vintage today, in a few years they will be, and to a fashion persons that’s good enough, which is why they will never claimed it’s discount chic, it’s vintage.

READ MORE ABOUT: vintage