Me and my girl just got back from New York. This is one in a series of posts breaking down the fun and games we discovered during our week long stay in Brooklyn in the hope that you may enjoy the same pleasures, whether you are a visitor or a local.

On Sunday morning we had much needed iced coffee and pumpkin muffins a cute breakfast place on the corner of 7th Avenue and 5th Street whilst watching vendors setting up for the weekly PS 321 Flea Market. This Park Slope flea market was our first taste of New York flea marketeering and with a good result. There was about 20 stands when we hit the stalls, displaying a decent mix of vintage homeware, furniture, second hand jewellery, collectables, vintage clothing and generic flea market tat. By the Second stall I had already bagged myself a gorgeous and perfectly fitting original 1960’s turquoise hounds-tooth dress. Although small this market is well worth a visit.

On the walk north from we crossed paths with a lot of cute looking antique and collectible stores including the curiously named Under The Pig , alas due to it being before noon on a Sunday, most of them were closed. We hung around for a while until the opening of Bob & Judi’s Collectibles, this narrow store has an good eclectic mix of vintage and retro homeware, collectible and jewellery. Although we fell for much of the kitchenware our luggage allowance was limiting, I left with a gorgeous ‘clay look’ floral rockabilly hair comb for under $4.

The walk up Fifth Avenue led us to then Guvnor’s and Odd Twin, I was in my element. Govnor’s is a vast cavernous room with rails and rails of vintage attire; playsuit on the fist rack followed by dresses, then shirts and so on. The store is divided roughly down the centre into menswear and womenswear whilst accessories are strewn in abundance. Perhaps most impressive was the round rail filled with vintage swimwear. I left with what is now my cherished grey and blue pussy-bow cotton house dress which ominously fastens at the back with just three poppers but is nonetheless adorable.

On the other hand, almost next door Odd Twin (pictured left) was tunnel like room but also divided centrally into mens and womenswear with well attended fitting rooms at the end. Homeware is arranged neatly near the entrance and nestled on giant overhead shelves. The vintage period outfits here appear to have been much more selectively sourced that the average vintage store with a good range from throughout the decades. Granted the fitting room attendant is a little ‘hard sell’ but friendly, as were all the staff. The clothes are neatly organised and the store is clean and free of musty vintage smells allowing for pleasant unfettered shopping. In essence this is a vintage store for the novice and well practiced enthusiast.

Do you have more to say about any of the places featured here or places in Park Slope we have not mentioned? Please do share…

• Bob & Judi’s Collectibles, 217 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215-1256, United States
• Guvnor’s Vintage Thrift, 178 Fifth Avenue, (Between Sackett St & Degraw St), Brooklyn, NY 11217
  
• Odd Twin, 164 5th Ave, (between Douglass St & Degraw St), Brooklyn, NY 11217
• PS 321 Flea Market, 180 7th Avenue,Brooklyn, NY 11215-2609, United States. Saturdays and Sundays 8am-6pm.
• Under the Pig Antiques & Collectibles, 355 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215-2827, United States

Find a full explanation of what vintage clothing is on our post What does vintage actually mean? Why would people wear it?

That’s another question entirely, and more accurately should be why do people wear it? Because they do, and lots. In fact vintage fashion has become a large and growing movement over the last ten years. It’s a leap from when  I was a child (in the 80s) and it was considered undesirable to wear second-hand things. The perception of  vintage has done a 180.

Some reasons I wear and love vintage clothing are that they hold more value in mind than today’s disposable items; back in the 1940s things were build to last, this is proven by them outliving their previous owners, whereas half the things I have bought in the last five years have already broken. Prior to designer Mary Quant instigating mass-produced ready-to-wear fashion in the late 1950s clothing was on the most part custom made. This suggests that more care and attention was used in their production and why now they are more cherished than their modern counterparts.

Another reason I wear vintage, and I’m sure this applies to all you vintage enthusiasts out there, is because of the imagery… the feel of a particular era. For example, let’s take the 1940s; an era when women were both sex symbols and began embracing masculine roles and fashions. When you imagine a women from the 1940s, she is most likely clad a pencil skirt with a glamorous coiffure… she is aspirational, a classic beauty and today’s vintage enthusiasts want to be her. Wearing vintage and vintage inspired clothing and accessories is a way of embracing the glamour of past decades.

Another reason I wear vintage is more ethical. I want to wear items which already exist and will last, things that I can cherish. I don’t want vast amounts of clothing what will end up in a landfill after a few years. I’ll not go into this too much but if you want to read more about it you can check out our ethical policy.

There is a longer list of reasons including  ‘because of it previously belonged to’, ‘because of where I found it’ or because it makes me feel beautiful …

I want to hear why others love vintage, so if your an enthusiast tell us why.

I sometimes get asked what vintage means by those new to the concept.  The word vintage is thrown around nowadays so it can be confusing as to what the actual definition of vintage and vintage fashion is. As a general term vintage means made in a past era… but this is across the board and can refer to wine, cheese, whisky, furniture, and many other things which are genuinely old. So when someone asks the vintage of a wine, the answer will be the year it was made.

With regard to vintage clothing and accessories it gets a little more complex. Within fashion’ Vintage’, meaning period or era currently denoted that an item dates from the 1920’s to 1980’s. Anything older would be considered antique. Any items more than 20 years old are vintage, so when we reach 2020 clothing from the 1990’s will become vintage.

Technically clothing from the 80’s is vintage but is equally referred to as retro. Retro, short for retrospective on the other hand translates as something which looks back at the past but is produced in the present. This means pretty much the same as vintage inspired; fashion and accessories inspired by the early 20th century, from the flapper dress to the jumpsuit.

Yesterday we had a lots of fun shooting our 1950s fashion inspired photo shoot  for spring/summer with a lovely lady you might recognize from last years photos, face of Queeni-B Boutique actress Jessica Ellerby. Jessica is a pleasure to work with and is such fun on set…not only that but she gives good face. The 1950’s inspired photo shoot included retro playsuits, and 1950s dresses from upcoming addition to the boutique Emma Brigitte London, a new clothing range from best-selling 1040s hat designer Rosa of Rosielee Clothing as well as some lovely vintage clothing due to arrive in spring 2010.  Look our for pictures throughout the next few months but here’s quick a peek!

There is no form of shopping more fun to me than rummaging through a heap of vintage clothing because like most vintage lovers I’m a magpie ; gathering and mixing original and replica 40’s to 80’s fashion with the new. I had the opportunity for a good rummage over Chistmas when I ventured into the family attic which holds my stash of collected and inheritaed vintage. I have been seperated from this collection since moving to London a few years ago and so it was wonderful to be reunited with this array of printed dresses, sexy pencil suits and glam 70’s playsuits. New vintage pieces from the stash will be added to Queeni-B Boutique in 2010 and will available at www.queenib.com.