East Village

To be a successful vintage shopper in New York City, one must be patient, savvy and monetarily wise. It can be easy to spend a week’s paycheck in a single trip alone to a downtown vintage boutique, given their lustful and conveniently available selection of second-hand designer goods and edgy tattered clothing offered within their rustic motif. If your familiar with downtown, you are aware that you simply can’t walk a block in the East Village or Lower East Side without passing a vintage store. It’s their bread and butter, so much so that it would be too tedious for me to sit here and list each and every store individually, as it would take up the next three pages and then some!

If you are anything like me, you live for vintage goodies. The mere site of a perfectly worn in vintage tee shirt paired with a long antique necklace gives you goosebumps. The vintage look isn’t for everyone, some balk at wearing second-hand clothing and cringe and toting around a used purse. To each their own, I suppose, but at least that leaves more for us vintage-philes to sift through!

Downtown vintage stores are generally split right down the middle. There are vintage and antique boutiques that are museum like in their décor, making it nearly impossible to not want to splurge on their carefully handpicked vintage. Within these boutiques, such as the East Village’s Stock Vintage — which features a magazine worthy Americana motif — a Harley Davidson tee shirt can cost you up to $225 and a pair Laredo boots, around $300. And then there are the larger second-hand shops, which resembles a well arranged Salvation Army, that contain racks of used blouses, tees, button ups, jeans, etc., for superbly low prices. These stores, such as No Relation Vintage on 1^st Avenue between 12^th St and 13^th St, are more time consuming than boutiques. These shops require you to sort through racks and bins in order to discover the diamond in the rough. However, if you are a dedicated and patient vintage shopper, this is by far the way to go, and will save you hundreds of dollars in the long run.

Funny enough, What Goes Around Comes Around, one of the city’s priciest vintage boutiques, situated in SoHo, is celebrating the final days of a long and successful run of their pop-up outlet on Lafayette at Astor Place today. Since last year, this outlet has featured bundles of merchandise, leftovers, samples, and unwanted vintage from their New Jersey warehouse for incredibly low prices, compared to their over-priced SoHo boutique anyway. Until tomorrow evening, when the pop-up closes for good, every item storewide is 70% off tag prices and already discounted items. The majority of goods will only cost you between $5-$30, apart from jackets and specialty items.

When I visited the What Goes Around Comes Around’s Ultimate Vintage Sale this morning, there was plenty of merchandise still available, although the gems of the store have already been cleared out. However, don’t let this deter you! Utilizing the required vintage-shopping-patience can lead to a successful outcome, just as it did for the two trendy women in front of me on line who dropped $250 each at the register and toted away three very large bags jammed full of clothing.

As you enter the Ultimate Vintage Sale, there is a large table that features a variety of Inhabit cashmere sweaters, which are among the only non-second-hand items the sale offers. These typically expensive luxurious sweaters, now only run for around $40 a piece. After checking these out, start your quest for vintage by starting with what’s left of What Goes Around’s famous collection of hand picked vintage concert shirts, where you’ll find an Elton John tour shirt for $60 (orig. $200) and an Asia concert tee for $45 (orig. $150). Don’t exit the section without taking a gander at the small selection of designer jackets, such as the vintage Yves Saint Laurent Blazer for just $105 (orig. $350).

The remaining sections are fit for perusing, with plenty of round racks featuring fun vintage tee shirts for around $5, plaid button downs for as low as $3 and no more than $38, for those that are embellished. Bohemian skirts, peasant blouses, and denim dresses are all available for $30 and below, as are sweaters and cardigans. The fur coats are definitely worth your time, such as the gorgeous White Mongolian Fur Coat ($225, orig. $750) and the simple black and white long wool coat for just $23.

After you exhaust the racks of sweaters, blouses, button up, and denim shorts for under $10, start fishing through the giant bins of random finds for between $3-$5. Patience is a virtue! There are still plenty of diamonds in this rough!

If you are an inexperienced vintage shopper, get your start today or tomorrow by taking a slow stroll through the What Goes Around Comes Around Ultimate Vintage Sale. After you’ve gained your sea legs, work your way through the streets of downtown and pop in and out of the best, and most vast, collection of second-hand shops and boutiques this city has to offer!

By Caitlin Colford

Almost a year ago, we wrote an article asking ourselves: “Is the Upper East Side finally cool?”

Yes, the UES had scenes from Gossip Girl and several from Sex and the City filmed here. Movie trucks are parked on the street both day and night and celebrity sightings aren’t anything out of the ordinary, either.

For example, two nights ago my dog met — and sniffed — Geraldo Rivera’s own canines (Rivera didn’t seem willing to enter into a conversation) and I am pretty sure it was Candice Bergen who stopped last year to pat the same furry companion. I should have gotten him an agent; he’s really a looker.

Still, despite our affluent, sometimes celebrity-status neighbors, we often find ourselves traveling to far away places like Soho for a good bowl of pasta. This might soon change with the opening of revered chef Michael White’s Ristorante Morini. However, considering the fact that I love Marea Ristorante and hate Osteria Morini, that is left to be seen.

Having said that, I must confess that I love my Upper East Side and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.  That’s when I got the idea: Wouldn’t be nice if we had scouts on the ground in each neighborhood? Scouts who kept everyone informed about what is happening in terms of shopping? And then I thought to myself, why can’t I be that scout?

That’s precisely why I took on the role as the Upper East Side’s Stylish City Ambassador. Take that, Ms. Wintour. This is one ambassadorship you are not going to get.

So, that covers one New York neighborhood.  What about the rest of them?  Well, I need your help.  If you want to be a Stylish City Ambassador, contact me at [email protected].

Here are the “districts” — Stylish Games anyone? — we have to cover. And yes, you will receive compensation for articles written.

Downtown      
East Village, Alphabet City, Chinatown, Little Italy,  Greenwich Village, Soho, Meatpacking, Noho, Nolita, Tribeca, West Village, Huson Square

Financial District      
Battery Park City, City Hall, South Street Seaport, Wall Street

Midtown East
Midtown East, Beekman Place, Flatiron, Gramercy Park & Union Square, Kips Bay, Murray Hill, Stuyvesant Town / Peter Cooper Village, Sutton Place, Tudor City, Turtle Bay / United Nations

Midtown West
Central Park, SouthChelsea, Clinton / Hells Kitchen, Garment District & Herald Square,  Koreatown, Midtown West,  Theater District

Upper East Side
Carnegie Hill, Gracie Point, Yorkville, Lenox Hill, Roosevelt Island

UWS
Lincoln Square, Manhattan Valley, Upper West Side

The month of April brings about mixed emotions as all New Yorkers are THRILLED that old man winter is on his way out and warmer days are ahead, but the showers that this part of year brings about can be a nightmare for fellow fashionistas. (can I get an Amen from my fellow curly haired friends?) Our pooches on the other had will be begging for the rain to come, as that means they get to strut their stuff in New York Cities finest doggie rainwear!

Wagwear in the East Village knows the importance of combining style and safety for our canines as they stroll down the block and feature a reflective all weather raincoat that retails for $98.00 – $125.00.

If your pup is anything like mine and refuses to go to the bathroom in the rain, check out the pet umbrella on the website Pet Squared.  This handy contraption retails for just $19.99 and will keep fido happy and dry in rainy day weather.

Or maybe your dog is looking for something a bit more classic and timeless when it comes to rainwear fashion.  If so Canine Styles, who has many locations around the city, has a classic raincoat slicker that comes in a variety of fun bright spring colors retails for $45.00 – $65.00

– Lindsey

I’ve been frequenting both Spice and SEA ad nauseum during this depressing recession. A girls gotta eat! So imagine my surprise when I sat down to remind veteran NYCers that the ‘ol reliable Spice (originally on University, then made babies) still has those scrumptious signature shrimp fitters just to discover that Spice and SEA are a little more than kissing cousins. They’re Thai twinners!

Lunching at Spice Chelsea last week, I had a delicious lunch special that included those yummy little fitters as well as Tom Yum soup and Hawaiian Ginger Pineapple stir fry. It was crowded with attractive men. In Chelsea ladies, you can look, but you cannot touch.
And I couldn’t get my fill of Thai food apparently, because later that week my mouth was burning on fire at SEA from my mango green bean salad. Spicy deliciousness. I followed it with the model popular noodless pad thai. It took all of my effort to pass on a glass of $6 Pino Grigio, but if I were you, I’d have one…or two. Drink away those April showers! And with all of the locations (Chelsea, Uptown, Union Square new Astor Place Spice and SEA on 2nd and in the BK) you really have no excuse not to.

Spice East Village, Chelsea, Union Square, Uptown