New York and Old Clothes Make for Bargains

Vintage clothes are a good buy in New York City, where top dealers offer a wide range of styles for a fraction of the cost of contemporary clothing.

Harriet Love the most famous of the city’s vintage stylists and author of “Guide to Vintage Chic” (Holt Rhinehart, 1982), set the standards for retro-chic fashion. Her shop at 412 W. Broadway in Soho is the leading showcase for this marriage of old and new.

“When I began in 1965, I really focused exclusively on vintage clothing, much of it Victorian in look,” Love said. “The ‘60s were the big costume era. But now customers have a more contemporary, practical vision and need. So I’ve become much more eclectic. This gives customers a lot of fashion options; they can merge the romance of the past with modern convenience.”

Love’s shop is filled with merchandise that has been collected by 150 “pickers”--buyers who scour the nation’s yard sales, flea markets and estate closets for pieces that are not only of stylistic interest but in near-mint condition. The shop is small, and every square inch is used for display.

Love usually shows 250 to 300 pieces of clothing bearing the labels of such designers as Worth, Hattie Carnegie, Schiaparelli. Stock changes constantly, but there are always ‘30s and ‘40s dresses ($125 to $175) with bold print designs, as well as a good selection of beaded blouses ($145 to $195), some with buttons down the back. A black cashmere Ballentine sweater with multicolored beading costs $175.

Jackets are in rayon, gabardine and wool, and many have beading around the collar and cuffs. A mauve gabardine ‘40s jacket with a cinched waist, white buttons and some white beading on the collar costs $200, and is displayed with eggplant-colored silk pants ($112).

The highly stylized jackets bearing the label of Lilli Ann of San Francisco are priced from $150. They include gabardines with satin piping, black velvet and black faille combinations and a jacket of black silk patterned with a turquoise-and-white design and lined with red silk.

For men, there are fabulous ‘40s ties priced at $45 to $55, as well as terrific Hawaiian shirts, vintage ‘40s to ‘60s, priced at $125 to $250.

Love is also known for her extraordinary collection of costume and estate jewelry. The shop has three showcases filled with about 1,000 pieces, ranging from men’s cufflinks for $35 to a $600 pair of Victorian earrings in gold , emerald and pearl.

There are also accessories, including Bakelite or beaded ($85 to $110) and alligator ($175 to $450) purses. The newer clothes in the shop include Mary Jane Mariafiano and Anne Mieke sweaters, Equipment shirts and Zelda jackets.

Victoria Falls (451 W. Broadway, Soho), the shop belonging to designer and stylist Rina Gill, was founded in 1976 and created a craze for Victorian lingerie worn as street garb. The shop still features the Victorian romantic look, but now augments its stock of authentic turn-of-the-century linen and lace petticoats ($75 to $400), camisoles ($60 to $250) and nighties ($120 to $400), with Gill’s own line of Victorian-look contemporary linen camisoles (from $90) to be worn with silk gabardine skirts and jackets (about $600 a suit).

Both the originals and Gill’s adaptations are delicate and delightful, ranging from the rather simple country look to elegant and sophisticated designs covered with embroidery.

There is also a selection of exquisite high-neck, dropped-waist, gauzy, hem-stitched dresses dating to the turn of the century (from about $450), to be worn at weddings or fancy afternoon lawn parties, as well as beaded dresses from the ‘20s ($250 to $850).

Accessories include antique hats, handbags (including a ‘40s alligator purse for $140 and a 1910 lacy crocheted silk wedding bag for $120) and handkerchiefs, vintage ‘30s and priced at $10 each.

Liza’s Place (132 Thompson St., Soho), now in its sixth year, specializes in vintage evening wear. This large shop shows all the fashion flair of its Brazilian owner. The place is painted a pleasant light lilac, and the stock--about 800 pieces of clothing at any given time--hangs on the walls or from the ceiling.

The clothes, in perfect condition and rather expensive, are the sort that might be seen in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Collection.

There are ‘20s flappers’ dresses in gold and covered with beads (about $1,000), and dramatic turn-of-the-century capes in red velvet with gold trim (about $1,200), as well as a rich selection of wedding dresses from the 1900s through the 1930s, priced from about $1,200.

Liza also has fabulous hats from the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s and shoes (priced at about $250) from the ‘30s and ‘40s, plus fine silver jewelry by Chanel and Schiaparelli, from about $200 and up.

Alice Underground (481 Broadway, Soho, and 380 Columbus Ave., Upper West Side) has rack after rack of women’s ‘40s print rayon dresses (from $40), ‘50s cotton dresses (from $12) and vintage prom and party dresses, including tulles, failles and laces (from $25).

Men’s items include brocade smoking jackets and rayon robes (from $20), plus ties, jeans (from $6) and baggy trousers (from $15). There are also vintage leather flight jackets (from $125) and a vast selection of tweed jackets and coats (from $30). Stock changes constantly. New stock is usually put on the racks on Fridays. The merchandise is usually in good condition, but check carefully for rips, missing buttons and other damage before buying.

Reminiscence (74 Fifth Ave., Greenwich Village) mixes inexpensive vintage clothes with its own line of moderately priced contemporary copies. The dresses include boldly patterned numbers with cap or no sleeves, square neck and circle skirt (priced from $12 to $100).

Men’s baggy pants in rayon and linen cost about $38 to $48. Men’s ‘50s and ‘60s boxy tweed coats cost $28 to $70, and ‘50s raincoats are priced from $18. When the shop’s supply of original ‘40s World War II era overalls, dyed in vibrant colors, were sold out, Reminiscence began to manufacture copies. These sell for $18.

Off the tourist trail but promising for dedicated shoppers, Domsey’s (431 Kent Ave., Williamsburg, Brooklyn) is a two-square-block repository of vintage and remaindered clothing. The store receives hundreds of thousands of pounds of clothing a week from charity drives and warehouse close-outs across the country.

Everything is dumped into bins and sold by weight ($2 to $3 per pound). Picking through the bins can be a challenge even for the most dedicated bargain hunter.

Those with less stamina can shop in the adjacent four-floor Annex (the entrance is around the corner at 488 Whyte St.), where items are displayed on racks and have price tags ($2 to $15 per item). Be prepared to spend several hours sifting through miles of dresses, skirts, shirts, slacks, vests, suits, trousers and shoes that date from the ‘20s through the ‘70s and are not arranged by size.

The search can be rewarded with superb buys, such as two-tone wing-tip men’s shoes for $10 a pair or a stunning black wool ‘50s cocktail dress with cut-out back, in perfect condition, for $6.

To get to Domsey’s by subway, take the J, M or Z train to Marcy Avenue, then walk down Broadway toward the river until you reach Kent Avenue. Of course, what you save on clothes should easily cover the cost of a cab.