Friday, October 12, 2007

So Vintage

So Vintage-soooo good
16, rue des Moines
17 arrondisement

Housed inside a tiny, unassuming storefront on the rue des Moines, there is no awning and no sign, is So Vintage, a true mecca of vintage fashion. Paris is full of some of the best vintage stores I have seen with prices that are generally better than New York, but none-the-less, expensive, particularly if you do the euro-dollar exchange. What’s more, typically part of the bargain of scoring a great, one of a kind Pucci dress is the particularly pungent smell of clothes that have been sitting in some dank basement or god knows where and the first week of new ownership the item sits at the dry cleaner, waiting for a slight facelift.

So Vintage is not super vintage in the sense of finding anything pre-1970s, but why it rocks so much is that it has managed to find rarely, if ever been worn Yves St. Laurent, Balenciaga, Lanvin, Thierry Mugler, Rykiel, etc. Always on hand is a huge rack of mostly sweaters and funky tops at 30 Euros each and another with dresses, skirts, sweater dresses, and tops at 50 Euros. I scored a never been worn, Balenciaga, navyblue silk shift dress on this rack last week. I felt like I was on candid camera and was waiting for someone to pop out and say “gotch ya!” Another item that grabbed me was a deep purple, silk YSL tunic with slightly chunky gold buttons on the sleeves. 30 Euros.

For men, well, I haven’t looked that much yet because I had to get out of there before I spent any more money on my part time budget, but someone is getting a 10 Euro Thierry Mugler tie for Christmas…maybe two of them.

So Vintage is just a nice, low-key store filled with some rare, funky finds. What’s more, there is another store at 50 Legendre, also in the 17th and another in the 19th, which is reportedly 3 floors. You’ll have to ask for the location. I was scared to ask.
There is no website.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

soooo good! just spent almost an hour there, wondering the same as you - am i on candid camera? i found YSL everywhere, a cerruti dress, and lanvin tops. i ended up not buying anything today, but will definitely go back soon. i could not understand those prices! there is a store on mott street in notlita in NYC called resurrection, and i am SURE the same tops and dresses would be at least 500 dollars, really! especially with the vogue for 80s sweater-dresses... so maybe we should snap everything up and sell on e bay? but then those nice store owners on rue des moines would go out of business...by the way, rue des moines and rue brochant are my new favorite parisian streets! you are so lucky, pilar!