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May 1- 7, 2003

naked city

The New Old School

Rescue me: Brigette Valenzano mixes the old with the new at Old Cityâs Rescue 138. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

Vintage clothing finds a second (or third, or fifth) life as haute couture.

by A.D. Amorosi

A love of today’s fine clothing requires a knowledge of the classics, the clothiers from the ’30s on, whose solid stitching, darts and lines are sturdy and inventive, innovative enough to inspire current designers like Marc Jacobs and Prada. Even better is knowing, like those designers do, how to not only make old designers new, but use new and old in tandem for a look all your own.

Like bottle bars and coffee klatches, vintage is everywhere in Philly, from the old clothing restructured into new at The Skinny to the former synagogue that is Sixth Street's Antiquarian's Delight, with its catacombs of wonderful rarities.

In their new book, Retro Chic: A Guide to Fabulous Vintage & Designer Resale Shopping in North America and Online (Really Great Books), Diana Eden and Gloria Lintermans tour over 500 shops and websites to find the best of the oldest. Along with swanky sites (the very Italian Yoox.com for Gucci and Ferretti) and local boutiques with sensational vintage (Bella on Third and South has Manolo shoes and Prada sweaters), Retro describes, then finds, the best from each decade -- the heavy silks of Charles James, the handcrafted shoes of Ferragamo, the thick, bizarre fabrics of Schiaparelli, the flawless construction of Galanos, the delirious prints of Pucci -- at Philly's designer resale vintage shops like Pennyfeathers on South Street, Ballyhoo on New Street and Buffalo Exchange on Walnut.

Lisa Miroslaw of Sansom Street's Echo Chic and Brigette Valenzano, owner of Third Street's Rescue 138, are advocates of the buy-old/wear-it-with-new method.

"I love old clothing, [for] the workmanship, but I love new lines that are made well and designed beautifully," says Valenzano. Valenzano once worked at Manhattan's famous vintage shop, Foley & Corinna, and Rescue 138 radiates taste, carrying '50s cocktail dresses, Gucci handbags, Pucci slips and rare Diane Von Furstenburg wrap dresses. But Rescue also carries new items like Custo-Barcelona tops and skirts (in fab pastels and tie dyes) and exquisitely tailored items from local designers HMB ("Her name is Heather. But I can't say who she is," Valenzano says mysteriously) and Abbie & Katie (from their Smack line). "New designers are mixing it up, taking, say, the body of a '60s dress, or a kick pleat -- something for a more sophisticated woman -- and making it into a floral print, something flirty and young."

Echo Chic's downstairs is owner Jen Ramsay's haven of the haute and wild, with new Jacobs polka dots or Anna Sui blouses. But upstairs is Miroslaw's stuff -- a mauve '80s Fendi jacket, gold '70s Whiting & Davis mesh bags, green Von Furstenberg knit dresses, Saint Laurent's Rive Gauche items. "The classic pieces have exquisite styling and tailoring, design and construction," says Miroslaw. "That's what got me into vintage. So little clothing now is well made. It spoiled me for anything new."

With her husband, Kevin Gallagher, Miroslaw's "done vintage" on her website and her former store on South Street -- both called Decades Vintage -- as long as she can remember. Miroslaw jokes about Sui buying vintage lace tops -- a touchstone of Sui's current collections -- years ago from a stand Miroslaw would sometimes set up at Manhattan flea markets. She also sells clothing to cinematic costume designers and clothiers. Miroslaw has provided wardrobe pieces for Austin Powers in Goldmember ("the funky roller-disco clothes -- lots of knit"), Red Dragon ("those awful dull FBI suits from the '80s") and the lush Far From Heaven.

Pulling clothing and accessories from her collection (a caravan housed in Roxborough that travels here and abroad) for Echo Chic, Miroslaw showcases what is "trend-driven." Miroslaw is a kind of trend forecaster, picking for and selling to designers like Jacobs, Sui, Donna Karan and Jean-Paul Gaultier, who use her 20th-century fashions for their own new lines.

"Sometimes, I pick clothes from my collection with a designer in mind -- things that are either coming back in style or will next season or so. I sold Marc Jacobs a lot of vintage military wear that he's using in his lines this year. Some designers are more or less covert about influence. I've sold old shoes to the shoe designer from Versace that he turned around and copied to a T. Miguelina buys slips from the '40s. And everything she does now is inspired by vintage lingerie."

At Echo Chic, Ramsay and Miroslaw utilize both floors to mix and match clothes, either one designer with another, or, better still, two eras of the same designer. "We may carry the same designers so that I can place a '70s clutch against [a] newer peasant top or jeans," Miroslaw says. "Face it, the '80s are the '50s on acid, [so] mix that together you won't look like a cookie-cutter version of everyone else."