Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 22, 1992 TAG: 9203180272
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-16 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Long
"It's not offbeat dressers buying anymore," said Allan Pollack, owner of Allan & Suzi in New York's Upper West Side. "Thanks to this year's fashion trends and the economy slump, our antique business is more popular with the general public."
A recent window display at Pollack's store featured a Gaultier fake fur over a Lillian Russell-type gown, an antique tulle skirt with an Ungaro bustier, platform shoes from the 1970s toe-to-toe with current styles. And nothing looked out of place.
From the turn of the century through the 1970s vintage, items at Allan & Suzi range from $5 for a funky cotton blouse to $500 for a rare di Sant'Angelo jacket. Most have a high-fashion edge even for their day.
But Helene Ramos, one of the owners of Blue Cat, a antique shop in downtown Charlottesville's Art and Antique Center, said most people aren't aware of how vintage clothes can update their wardrobes. The Blue Cat has a large collection of vintage clothing.
"Most people are intimidated by it," she said. "If they knew how to choose it and make it work with what they have, it lets them be much more individual."
The customers that do shop at Blue Cat choose pieces depending on their lifestyles, Ramos said. College students tend to buy Victorian skirts for around $50 to $75 and clothing from the '60s, and people in professional fields tend to buy dress suits from the '30s and '40s for about $80.
Other popular items are swing coats for about $50 and prom dresses from the '40s and '50s for about $30. "It's cheaper than if you bought the same thing today with the same quality," Ramos says.
Even those unaffected by a cash-flow problem are buying old clothes in New York shops. Naomi Campbell, the mega-buck model, recently bought vintage silver platform shoes; singer Carly Simon, a motorcycle jacket; and actress Daryl Hannah - known to wear retro head to toe - a floppy hat.
"Celebrities like the promise of exclusivity that vintage carries," Pollack said.
Customers at Sandra's Cellar on Campbell Avenue in Roanoke are usually looking for that one-of a-kind look, too, said owner Sandra Carter. "You're not going to find anyone else in your outfit," she said.
Carter, who has been selling vintage clothes for about 18 years, said that her customers also buy her items because of their long-lasting quality. "They're made better. . . . They're still here," she said.
Sandra's Cellar offers clothing from the 1800s to the 1960s. On one visit, she had anything from a silk cocktail dress from the '20s for $250 to cotton blouses from the '50s for $25.
"I try to have something for everyone," Carter said.
Screaming Mimi's - an East Village store where Cyndi Lauper worked before she became a rock star - has a young clientele that want to look updated, not retro. Owned by Laura Wills and Biff Chandler, it's known for adding a new twist to old clothes - from lifting hemlines to lowering necklines.
A recent visit turned up short mohair jackets in pastel tweed with gold buttons, a la Chanel, for $45; little pleated skirts a la Gianni Versace, for $28, and classic leather motorcycle jackets for under $100.
Based on what they see in the store and on the streets, Wills says with the exception of go-go boots, wild looks from the 1960s and 1970s are verging on passe.
"We are going forward with more sophisticated looks," she says. "For example, a little sleeveless dress with a short jacket like Jackie O used to wear."
By contrast, the Antique Boutique, with a store in uptown New York, another downtown and plans for U.S. college towns by mid-year, is heavy on meat and potatoes: jeans, blazers and motorcycle jackets.
"Unless you can turn up the volume on an item, it doesn't make sense to introduce it," said co-owner Harvey Schefren. "If everyone falls for beaded sweaters, quite honestly there wouldn't be enough to meet demand."
Still, he says, collector's items from earlier decades are the first to go. "The '50s poodle skirts, argyle sweaters and paisley dresses always have their audience, same with gems from earlier decades," Schefren says. "The next things out the door are the more ordinary looks from before the '50s which sell from about $10 to $40. But the majority of the shop's antique stock dates from the '60s and '70s, Schefren said. The hottest items these days are jeans, blazers and motorcycle jackets.
Schefren credits designers for helping these trends along.
"Until Girbaud made distressed jeans with holes in them, we couldn't even sell a slightly ripped pair," he said. "And when classic motorcycle jackets hit all the fashion magazines, our leather business soared. Not to mention, when top designers started making oversized blazers, rolling up the sleeves and calling them `boyfriend jackets.' . . . After all, ours sell from $15 to $45. Theirs start at $200."
Clearly, the Antique Boutique has captured the customer with sticker shock. Browsing the racks, one finds that old clothing can offer a new look at prices substantially below designer garments.
"In these times when people have a limited pocketbook," Schefren said, "vintage slips right in. Our customer base has broadened to the full spectrum, including the mainstream customer shopping for value.
"Most clothes made today won't last 30 years. Many of these have survived a lot longer. That exceptional craftsmanship and quality is part of the cachet of vintage clothing, and if it makes a fashion statement on top of that, then you have a home run."
- Staff writer Michelle Riley contributed to this story.
by CNB