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 The Vintage Life Shopping old-school Chicago
"It's the attraction of walking into a room and knowing no one else will
be wearing what you're wearing."- Amy Ernst, owner of Viva Vintage We started out on a mission to locate the best vintage and thrift
stores in the city. While a Google search on "hip thrift stores in
Chicago" spilled out nearly one hundred local addresses, the stores are
mostly thrift shops. These non-profit stores, many of them nationwide
chains like Salvation Army and Village Discounts, sell cheap clothes
secondhand, but the clothes are unwashed and not necessarily old.
Vintage stores, on the other hand, have clothing from at least as far
back as the seventies, often cleaned and repaired, that the owners have
chosen because they think they will sell. "Thrift has become the hipster
generic store name for second hand clothing. But let's get our terms
right boys and girls," says Viva Vintage owner Amy Ernst. Using our own
standards for an enjoyable shopping experience--selection, cleanliness,
atmosphere, service and cost--we opt for vintage and present our
shoppers' guide to Chicago's vintage stores. Ladies who lunch
Though her suburban shop draws in mainly locals and students, she
also attracts North Shore ladies on their way home from Bloomingdale's,
searching for vintage alligator skin purses or Pucci suit jackets to
complement their new designer wear. While Ernst carries some known
labels, like Missoni, Pucci, Yves St. Laurent and Chanel, she classifies
her selection as the kind of stuff you would find in Winnetka boutiques
in the 1950s.
Kitschy accessories, new and old, are Viva's forte. Her idea is that
clients can complete an outfit within her store. So she sells new go-go
boots, sunglasses, eighties-style plastics, boas and jeweled cigarette
holders in black or white just like Holly Golightly's. Her glass cabinet
holds a small selection of vintage glasses frames--mostly cat-eyes--and
gaudy earrings from $5 to $35. Lots of casual leather and embroidered
purses in the front are a nice practical catch.
Since Viva is small and Ernst prefers to change the floor seasonally,
it's best to make frequent visits. She buys mostly from locals who bring
their clothing by appointment. Despite all the kitsch, Viva feels
authentic, intimate and aptly funny. "Being odd is kind of fun," Ernst
smiles.
Viva Vintage
Become a fifties housewife
"I do twentieth-century American modern, which in my mind is
vintage," says Sutton, looking out under dark brown bangs cut high
across her forehead and handling a leopard print cuff on her wrist.
"Retro is more late sixties, seventies and eighties. Kitsch is more sort
of out there."
The shop entrance resembles a cluttered living room--loud green
couches soft as terrycloth that match the lime green and orange walls,
pink heart-shaped ashtrays, live plants and a plastic fish floundering
on the furniture.
Since leaving her last two stores, also known as Vintage Deluxe (her
previous partner owns Night and Day, formerly known as Vintage Deluxe
II), she's consolidated her clothes and furniture into the current
space. Her preference to put everything on the floor at once keeps the
shop in a constant state of clutter: paper party decorations swing from
the low ceiling, and hatboxes and flower-print suitcases fill every
extra nook and cranny. Remarkably, her store is still well-organized and
relatively easy to navigate.
In a hallway between the two larger rooms rests a collection of
hundreds of mostly unused vintage eyeglass frames. The plastic frames
come in simple clear and colors, varying degrees of cat-eye and as
sunglasses. Rhinestones flicker around most of the frames' edges.
A strapless in cotton-candy pink netting fits into the selection of
fifties and sixties prom dresses, and the dozens of white and colored
gloves make for elegant accessories.
In addition to a few racks of traditional, cotton and flannel plaid
shirts and polyester pants, men will find silk oriental robes, silk
scarves for suits, and straw and felt hats. Perhaps the most unusual
part of her collection is the vintage children's wear.
The small room containing housewares, by far the most cramped space
in the store, provides all the ingredients for becoming a perfect
forties or fifties housewife. The extensive collection ranges from a
lime green plastic breadbox, salt-and-pepper shakers, silverware,
hairdryers and even old detergent boxes.
"I want a vintage department store," says Sutton. "I just need two
more stories."
Vintage Deluxe
Hats off on Southport
Passing Wisteria at normal sidewalk speed, it looks like any old
consignment/resale store, crowded by an outdoor sale rack of the least
desirable garments. But the hats in the window, like the 1950s Dr.
Seuss-style one in cream accordion fabric and tall as a stovepipe, are
worth a second look.
Koontz says "little old ladies" daily sell him their 1940s-1950s
hats, bare and adorned with pinned flowers and ribbons.
Besides its hats, Wisteria is one of the only local vintage stores
with a healthy menswear selection; half the store features cardigans,
letter jackets, tuxes and cashmere coats. His ribboned, sometimes
feathered, men's hats include Italian designer Borsalinos in beaver felt
and white straw Panamas. Since men of larger stature cannot fit into the
generally smaller vintage sizes, Koonz orders new short-sleeve
button-ups from Hawaii, with authentic coconut buttons.
Perhaps because of the reputation he's developed over the past ten
years owning Wisteria, Koontz claims he has to turn away consignments.
He features a slew of gowns from Michigan Avenue dressmakers like
Stanley Korshak and Pauline Trigere and high-end boutiques like Studio
28. He holds up an example of the couture he occasionally carries, a
gauzy, ivory Oscar de la Renta gown from the 1970s.
Other notables include women's suits, day dresses (starting at $18),
a single fur hand warmer and a mother of pearl vanity set with a handbag
that slips out of its braided fabric handle and opens up into a compact,
cigarette case and switchblade comb.
Unfortunately, Wisteria is closing in July, and Koontz will
ostensibly return to his career as an architect, this time in kitchen
design. He plans to continue selling his wares on eBay, to local dealers
and vintage stores and at occasional sales.
Wisteria
Society ladies shop on Lincoln
The retired personal shopper for Marshall Field's opened Lulu's in
November with the idea of appealing to society ladies of the North Shore
and Gold Coast areas. A pink and brown color scheme with hints of
leopard print provides the backdrop for mostly fifties, some forties and
sixties society gowns, Jackie O. suits and fancy day dresses.
"It's like biting into a chocolate and finding a piece of cherry on
the inside," her friend gushes behind brown drapery in back, describing
the single dressing room.
Trying on a Mike Bennet gown in white netting adorned with diagonal
strips of black satin ribbon feels decadent, especially with the red
velvet curtain interior. Lulu's also carries short dresses like a Carmen
Miranda-inspired black dress. Floor-length gowns cost around $150 to
$250, but cocktail or brunch dresses start at $80.
The heart of Lulu's collection, both in terms of the collector's
passion and selection, is the jewelry; meticulously color-categorized,
the spread of gaudy costume jewels, exaggerated in size by their
rhinestones' sparkle, ranges in price from about $35 to $175. Many of
the fist-sized brooches and teardrop earrings come as a set.
A white wicker handbag sitting in the window and bedecked in pink
pompoms and poodle designs costs $82. Faye Mell Vegas-style purses with
their tacky gaming adornments and Midas of Miami are cute, too.
Demma-Davis chooses to work six days a week so she can meet her
clientele. "I like to see the people who are going to wear my elegant
gowns."
The self-proclaimed history-buff also likes to sit on the white couch
in the middle of her store and exchange knowledge about the history of
clothes.
Lulu's at the Belle Kay
High-end nostalgia in Lakeview
"It's almost like a department store scaled down," says the
28-year-old owner, who's on her weeklong break from her other career as
a wardrobe designer currently touring with Aerosmith. Today her
all-black outfit includes a patent leather belt, a cropped jacket,
skull-printed sneakers and a silver moon pendant that hangs from the
thick of necklaces slung around her neck. Meyers bought the store last
April from the original owner, who opened it twenty-two years ago.
Meyers showcases her mint collection from the turn of the century to
the 1950s in an art-deco style room with a black-and-white-checkered
floor and an armoire. A beaded gown or shawl costs anywhere from $100 to
$3000, and 1930s-1960s designer hats--Dior, Ceil Chapman, Scaparelli,
Patty Carnegie, Pucci, Best Ben, Prada and Adrienne--curl up next to
porcelain Siamese cats. This is also where you'll find a long rack of
vintage wedding gowns beside a table stand full of black and white
wedding portraits.
You can find a silk teddy or a chocolate velvet 1930s cocktail dress
for as little as $50. But clothing for less than $100 generally hangs in
the front room. The selection includes mainly forties and fifties casual
frocks and suits and tops for men and women.
A man in the front room hangs an old-style movie poster frame with
lights around its edges; the black and white photo of "Trixie," the
store's designated pinup, lights up as Meyers points out odd
collectibles, like the Lone Ranger's mother's golden cross brooch.
Meyers keeps a file of her clients to remember who collects what and
takes requests when clients search for certain items.
Next look out for a collection of Steven Tyler's wardrobe on sale
along with new clothing from Japanese designers. Meyers hopes to have
her own signature collection in a few years of deconstructed vintage
wear.
Silver Moon
Hipster vintage in Wicker Park
Becker mixes new clothing with vintage wear throughout the store. The
current surge in reconstructed vintage--old clothing sewn together,
often as pieces, to form new garments--fits right into her boutique. She
also follows trends by studying magazines in order to sell original
vintage styles that inspire contemporary couture.
"The whole idea is to have something extreme and downplay it with a
jacket or something," says Becker, outfitted in black pinstripe pants
and a puffy down vest.
Becker and two friends opened Una Mae's--named after jazz singer Una
Mae Carlyle--in 1997 as an art gallery that also sold crafts and
clothing. They quickly converted Una Mae's into a clothing shop, buying
their supply at Chicago shops Ragstock, Flashy Trash and Beatnix. Her
partners moved to Louisville and Los Angeles and opened their own
vintage shops, and now Becker's traveling to rag mills--thrift and
vintage warehouses that only sell to certified buyers--and out-of-state
thrift shops for her supply.
"I'm more resale/vintage. It is getting harder to find vintage
because all the stuff has to get recycled again," she says as she
continues to discuss the buying cycle. "It happens a lot around rent
time."
Despite Becker's proclivity toward "sensory overload"--she fills her
space at the counter with plastic jewelry and locally designed jewels,
bath products, incense, perfume, stationary, paper hearts hung directly
above her and boas behind her--Una Mae's has spacious dressing rooms and
an overall well-spaced layout.
The shop is worth a visit for her new stuff alone. Becker carries
tank tops, shirts and skirts by local designers Faux Pas, Dirdy Bunnie,
Blackeye, Atara and Brooklyn designer Urban Mary. Even the garments that
are not reconstructed vintage have a kind of reconstructed look with
decorative fringy seams and stitching. Check if she has any more
fluorescent green "grandma skirts" by Hot Sauce--the skirt puffs out to
the knees like a trash bag and ties in a wide sash of hot pink around
the waist.
Una Mae's Freak Boutique
A new vintage on Division
"We usually say we're a vintage store even though we're not your
typical vintage," says the store's owner, hanging over a shirt pattern
on her worktable adjacent to the cashier desk. "We're kind of creating
another vintage."
Chunyk deconstructs garments to make them into more modern shapes.
However, since she's still learning to sew, she won't make alterations
upon request. She also hand-dyes a selection of thrift store slips and
camisoles.
In terms of unaltered vintage wear, Lilly Vallente, which Chunyk
opened in July 2001, has a nice selection of long-sleeve seventies
polyester dresses. They're typically striped in dark colors like navy
and purple with an elastic waist and skinny belt and occasional print at
the bottom.
Generally her clothing comes from the seventies and some sixties and
eighties. She also sells belt buckles ($10 to $30), leather purses and a
larger than usual selection of men's clothing that includes pants, cords
and leather jackets ($45). Her jewelry includes restrung glass beads and
pins that are fun and not too flashy. Even her furniture and a few
old-school Schwinn bikes are for sale.
"I always want to get more and more. It's like a sickness," she says
on our way out.
Lilly Vallente
And if you're insatiable...
If you're in the market for specialty items, the following stores are
worth a visit: At the entrance to Wacky Cats , 3012 N. Lincoln
(773)929-6701, stands a cabinet full of clutches. Many of them are
formal and sparkly in dark colors or metallic, but are few come in
elegant white or Lucite to match summer wedding attire. The shop also
sells new flapper dresses in solid red, black and purple spandex and
covered completely in fringe down the thigh.
More of a thrift store, U.S. #1, 1509 N. Milwaukee
(773)489-9428, bears resemblance to the American West with cowboy boots
pointing their toes out from below racks and shelves of coats. It's also
packed with military wear, Izod shirts and shearling coats.
Also by Jessica Herman The cool hunt is on
Fraying and finishing
War zone
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