How to Shop Vintage in NYC: Behind-the-Scenes of My Special Tours!

Hello and happy THURSDAY TOURS DAY vintage lovers!!!

While a little bit late in the announcement, I hereby declare the last three Thursdays as “Tour Thursdays” because those were the official dates of my first vintage store tours for the Sammy Davis Vintage Shopping Experience!

Today is the last of the “introductory tours” before the full scale tours are unveiled to the public very, very soon. A separate site is in the works to share information for tour attendees and deets on how & when to purchase tickets!

I’m so excited to continue growing a new line of the Sammy Davis Vintage business which continues to bring vintage lovers old and new together in spreading vintage love!

In honor of the “end” of these intro rate tours and the “beginning” of a new chapter for the tours themselves, I wanted to share all the fun I’ve had with a few of the lovely ladies who took the tour these past two weeks so that I could “perfect” my tour giving magic and receive the feedback to truly make this experience shine for future vintage lovers.

HUGE thanks to Lucille, Anna & Lauren for posing oh-so-many-times for the pictures you’re about to see of us taken on the tours. Thank goodness for my iPhone … I just get so snap happy!

Keep reading after the jump for a behind-the-scenes look at what we saw and styled in the vintage stores we visited …. and of course, what vintage pieces were given HAPPY HOMES!

Lately I’ve been listening to one of my favorite motivational speakers, Dr. Wayne Dyer. One of his book series “Inspiration” was converted into CD format, which I put on my iPod for reflection when coming to and from places traveling by foot or on the subway.

He speaks to how, when we are most happy, we are living an “inspired life.” In musing on what it means to live an inspired life — and just what inspires ME — I’ve come to a strong [and growing more muscles!] conclusion that what inspires me most is seeing women & men find vintage that they love and will love wearing.

These tours offer me the chance to truly live that inspired life. Not that I’m not inspired all ready — but imagine winning the lottery of inspiration. These tours are the JACKPOT! So I truly must say thank you to all who have shown support for the creation of this new business and confidence that it will succeed.

With so many vintage lovers to meet and greet … I can’t see how we can’t succeed at shopping vintage style TOGETHER!

Thank you all and happy TOUR THURSDAY!

xx, SD

 

 

MEET LAUREN!

THE VINTAGE LOVER: Miss Lauren, a fashion lover through & through who has been thrifting in New Jersey since she was a teenager!

HOW WE’RE CONNECTED: I met Lauren through mutual friend Sharon, who I know through my former career working in the magazine industry. Sharon put us in touch so that Lauren could join in on the vintage shopping experience and see what I was all about for herself!

HER STYLE: Lauren and I had the pleasure of sharing a very personal shopping experience together, because Lauren was interested in writing about my tours for the site she is fashion editor of, Ology.com.

So to clothe Lauren in three unique vintage looks to wear during Fashion Week with $150 in our pockets, I went straight to her Facebook profile just to see what Lauren’s style “was.” This is a strategy I love to use when first getting to know someone before actually hitting the stores and styling them. I’m a proponent of dressing in vintage that suits YOU and not ME, therefore to do my job at its best I must understand the wardrobe tendencies of those who I’m styling.

Lauren is marvelously monochromatic and a lover of knits, silks and soft cotton, skinny jeans and um … SHOES! The girl knows her body and she knows how to create the beauty she loves. So when shopping for Lauren, I pulled beautiful creams, greys, blacks first, but pushed her to “experiment” with a few other pieces just to see how they felt on.

Some were losers … but some were winners! And the best part is, by the end of our personal vintage shopping spree, Lauren said that I had “inspired her” to look at things she normally wouldn’t wear with confidence that she could.

HER SITE: Ology.com — be sure to check out the fashion/beauty section, of which Lauren is the editor! When touring together, she was name dropping designers, trends and fashion news like she was Google.com herself. She’s an inspiration!

1 / Lauren trying on the hot vintage shade style of the moment: Elton John / John Lennon glasses!

2 – 3 / One look of three we styled for Lauren’s Fashion Week coverage debut. Scalloped shorts and white/striped top with faded rose design were secondhand, black blazer from Urban and platform shoes her own! She was smiling wide because she felt so comfy and herself in these pieces combined.

Here we’re at Beacon’s Closet in the East Village — which in my opinion, is the best location in the city!

4 – 5 – 6 / We hit the classic vintage jackpot … of cross body leather bags! Can you guess which one is vintage Coach?

7 / At Tokyo7, a more upscale [but still seriously affordable] secondhand store in the East Village. When Lauren saw these pants [which we bought new with the tags on, BTW!] she screamed: SIENNA! As in, the color of the pants!

MEET ANNA!

THE VINTAGE LOVER: Awesome ANNA! While she works in the city proper [and just got a new job, to boot!] she technically lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, an adorable town off the Metro North. So she was an “out of towner” tour attendee.

HOW WE’RE CONNECTED: I first met Anna at a reunion event for American Society of Magazine Editors, an organization who recruited me as an intern in magazine publishing the summer of 2006 [woah, dating myself here!]. I attended this reunion event a few months ago and met Anna, who was an “ASME” intern last year. Our shared bonds of magazines, thrifting and big smiles brought us together!

HER STYLE: Anna has the body of a mannequin — and I mean this in a complimentary way! — so she can pretty much wear anything she feels. But that’s not how she dresses: She definitely picks and chooses appropriately. Since Anna just got a new job in the publishing world, she wanted to invest in a few vintage pieces appropriate for work. Keep scrolling to see the awesome Missoni dress we scored … that if I owned, I’d wear EVERY day to work!

HER SITE: Anna also checked out my tour so that she could profile me for a freelance article for the site Life2PointOh, which is all about “conquering the quarter-life.” Considering I’m right smack dab a “quarter lifer” at 25 years old, that sounds like me for sure!

1 / We loved this purple/blue floral working-girl dress! It wasn’t the highest quality of fabric for the modern day office, however, but would have done anyone’s style justice for a casual, cool day.

2 / The MISSONI sweater dress! Please “like” this article if you find that dress as fab as I do ;-)

3 / A Mexican sundress. A bit too much on the ruffles and lace, we agreed, but on a younger version of Anna? Potentially perfectly adorable!

4 / This graphic plaid print is right on trend, but we didn’t like the oversize collar. After sending the pic to Facebook to ask what everyone thought, we realized that this dress could have been purchased and reconstructed to fit with Anna’s style. But we sadly let it go! Thanks to all vintage lovers on the page for sharing their thoughts!

5 / It may look like leopard print … but it’s actually GIRAFFE! What a gorgeous coat for fall. Anna is a tall girl like me — actually, she’s a whole inch and 1/4 taller, standing high at 5′ 10″! So the jacket’s sleeves were slightly too short!

 

MEET LUCILLE!

THE VINTAGE LOVER: Lucille is a gorgeous gal from upstate New York who has been a vintage lover HER whole life, too! She confessed that while she loves buying pieces from the past, she just can’t convince her friends to take the same interest as she. So it was refreshing for her to shop vintage with someone who understood the passion and could chime in on the excitement of the hunt!

HOW WE’RE CONNECTED: Lucille first learned about me through the crazy world of YouTube. She started watching YouTube makeup/hair tutorial vids, and somehow stumbled onto my web series and connected on Facebook! How’s that for a small world?!

HER STYLE: When Lucille answered her pre-tour survey, she wrote that she was attending the tour with two style missions: One, to find a few new pieces for her Etsy store. Second, to find pieces of high-quality, classic vintage pieces for her own wardrobe. Lucille is pretty and polished — she looks great in the perfect dress and heels, a crisp blazer, a snazzy pencil or pleated midi skirt. So we shopped vintage with an edited eye and as you’ll see below, found quite a few pieces that made her style-happy!

HER SITE: Check out Lucille’s Etsy shop, Galipette Vintage. She’s even listed one of the items she found while on the tour … these amazing pants!

1 / Lucille at the register … cashing out with vintage purchase success!

2 / A sampling of what she found to list in her Etsy shop … do I see granny plaid?!

3 / For Lucille’s anniversary dinner with her husband, we were torn between two vintage dresses that were curated from Europe … [yes! European Vintage!] including this blue-darling and …

4 / …. this pink rose dress with slight flutter sleeves and a pleated skirt from the early ’80s. Which one do you think she ultimately bought? If you have a guess, leave a comment!

5 / Remember the leopard print but-oh-wait-its-giraffe-print fur coat Anna tried on further above? Well here it is on Lucille!

6 / And finally, a classic piece of vintage jewelry that while muted shades of pink and gold, was so attention-grabbing on: an oversize cameo ring.

 

VINTAGE FUN & LAUGHTER = SPREADING THE LOVE!

Anna & I [left] and Lauren & I!

Unfortunately, Lucille and I spent too much time talking & shopping to remember to take a picture together! So vintage lovers, if you ever take a tour … please remember to ask me to take our photo! ;-)