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More and more, people are bulking up their wardrobes with pre-loved and vintage items. And why not? Buying something already worn—and loved!—is sustainable. There is, after all, a fantastic feeling of having an item that is rare and treasured in one’s closet. For Vogue’s May issue, we tapped their vintage-loving editors to lend their own precious yesteryear finds to be modeled by Imaan Hammam and Caroline Trentini. In the mix was a ’90s-era Jean Paul Gaultier top mixed in with a skirt by Chopova Lowena, courtesy of Fashion News Director Chioma Nnadi. And on the other end of the decade spectrum, Features Editor Lilah Ramzi’s prized cropped red jacket from the ’50s made its debut alongside a current Dior look.
Here, Vogue editors weighed in on what vintage items they incorporate into their looks, as well as where they love to shop for them.
Chioma Nnadi, Fashion News Director
Where do you shop for vintage?
Everywhere and anywhere honestly, but mostly online these days. I'm a bit of a TheRealReal addict, especially when it comes to recent designer finds. There are a few vintage stores in LA that I follow on Instagram, including Scout. As far as shopping for older pieces, I still like to do that in person. When I lived in Brooklyn I would go to the Brooklyn flea practically every week to shop at my friend Joan Van Hees's stall
There are also a few vintage stores in Paris that my best friend Stella Greenspan put me on to, including Thanx God I'm a VIP. I try to make a pitstop there whenever I'm in town for work. I love Relik and Found and Vision in London, too. As a teenager I used to go to Portobello market every Saturday and I still like going there to look for vintage when I can. It gives me every excuse to go pick up a yummy Portuguese custard tart on Golborne Road up the street when I'm done.
Which periods of fashion history appeal to you and why?
I've always loved the style of the '70s. The silhouette really works for my body I think, plus the colors were so vibrant and I'm a sucker for groovy prints. I'm also very much into the neo-bohemian vibe of the late '90s. That's why I started collecting Jean Paul Gaultier. I love a maxi dress body-con moment. It's full coverage but still a little sexy.
What is your most prized find and where did you find it?
I found this really beautiful Edwardian lemon yellow dress that is embroidered with what look like tiny sewing machines in a flea market in Paris. My friend Lynn Yaeger always shows me all the best spots and this market in particular opens on Sunday at Porte de Vanves. It was 50 euros and I've worn it so many times. I wore it to a friend's wedding in Italy last summer, so now I have lots of great memories attached to that dress.
Jasmine Contomichalos, Experiences Editor
Where do you shop for vintage?
I rarely shop in person but when I'm home in London, I like to check out One Of A Kind on Portobello Road, it was the first vintage store I ever went into. In recent years, I've become addicted to Vestiaire and Etsy–you can find incredible pieces for great value. Some of my favorite shops on Etsy are American Archive for Gunne Sax and prairie dresses, Irvsl, Tokyo Roses, Vintage Star Paris, and Moonstone Vintage LA (this is more for window shopping unfortunately). I try to avoid wearing vintage shoes, hats and intimates, although I have to admit I once did buy a Dior bikini on Poshmark, which I have some regrets about.
What is your approach to styling vintage? As my vintage buys are quite specific, I usually have a look in mind for them. Often this doesn't come out the way I'd planned, so I try to keep it simple and mix in white wherever possible. For example, I’ll style vintage print pants with a cropped white tee or a floral dress with long white boots. I always have a gold chain belt and chunky earrings on hand too!
What is your most prized find and where did you find it?
My most prized vintage possession is my grandmother's Emilio Pucci terry cloth dress, as it's so unique and of course, reminds me of her.
Naomi Elizee, Associate Market Editor
What is your approach to styling vintage?
I don't style vintage any differently than I do my in-season pieces. Honestly, it's all about how I'm feeling that day and what type of mood I want to reflect in my clothing. Do I want to be super cozy and throw on a vintage sweater? Or do I want to have a more downtown cool vibe and wear the oversized leather biker jacket I thrifted?
What is your most prized find and where did you find it?
My most prized find is actually the jacket that Imaan is shown wearing. I found it two years ago in the Beacon's Closet in Williamsburg and I remember I almost didn't purchase it because it was over my budget at the time. After a lot of back and forth, I took the plunge and purchased it and super thankful that I did! It is one of the most unique pieces in my closet to date.
All-time favorite brick-and-mortar to shop?
The weekends are my safe haven for when I want to shop vintage. I live in Brooklyn so some of the vintage gems close by are The Break, Beacon's Closet, and About Glamour. They are all walking distance from each other so I usually dedicate a morning to hit all three. Whenever I'm in the city though, I always make it a point to pop into James Veloria and Tokio 7.
Akili King, Beauty Assistant
Which periods of fashion history appeal to you and why?
I've always been obsessed with the ’70s and ’90s fashion. I feel like the colors, the shapes and silhouettes of those periods are just so timeless and it's why we continue to see those looks recycled in today's designs. I also love ’80s and ’90s films, like Love Jones and Boomerang, which is where I get most of my beauty and fashion inspiration.
What is your approach to styling vintage?
In general, when I shop for vintage I always look for things I can see myself wearing for years to come. So it's usually simple pieces that I can layer like a slip dress or a leather jacket or nice pair of pants. It just balances things out.
What is your most prized find and where did you find it?
So tough. It's between the dress pictured here, Margiela Tabi boots I got for less than half of the normal price, and leather pants I bought from Mirth Vintage. It's so hard to find the perfect fit, and I actually did.
Lilah Ramzi, Features Editor
Where do you shop for vintage?
To help costume myself in skirts à la Dior's New Look and Betty Draper-esque frocks, I skip those sleek, downtown vintage boutiques filled with Tom Ford-era Gucci and pleats from Issey Miyake. Instead, my vintage quest leads me to less-curated places—charity thrift shops, flea markets, and Etsy. New York is seriously lacking in early vintage shops.
Which periods of fashion history appeal to you and why?
I'm lured to the mid-century, post-war look that begins in 1947 and ends in the early '60s. I draw a precise line in bold right at the point where things get groovy and psychedelic. To wax poetic, the impossible elegance and flamboyant femininity of the period is completely intoxicating to me—is there anything more lovely than a woman floating in a cloud of Charles James tulle? (There is not.) To my very particular eyes, every subsequent fashion era is a letdown. However, a substantial portion of my vintage does date to the 1980s, because that decade experienced a heavy '50s revival in clothing. In Etsy search term-speak, this is "'80s does the '50s."
All-time favorite brick-and-mortar to shop?
It comes as a big surprise when I tell people my go-to is Beacon's Closet, specifically the location in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Shopping there is like an archaeological dig to unearth vintage gems but it's absolutely worth the endeavor.
Jessica Nichols, Director of Experiences
Where do you shop for vintage?
Honestly, my sister's closet. It is the best way to save money (and she has a great eye for vintage). But when I'm back in Brooklyn and have gathered the energy to scavenge, I go to CrossRoads Trading Co. I would say my style is more modern than vintage, but I love a classic ensemble.
Which periods of fashion history appeal to you and why?
As an event planner, I'm in the business of creating memories. There’s something so special about a top or pants that evoke that same sentiment. Period fashion carries the stories of those who wore it and the memories of that time. Some moments in time that I love are the Victorian era, the ’80s and, of course, the ’90s.
What is your most prized find and where did you find it?
A prized find is my pink tweed suit from the early ’90s–I have it in about five different colors. I acquired them after a family friend passed. Her sisters were cleaning out her closet and realized I was the perfect size. They're very Clueless, but there's something so classic and sassy about them.
Madeline Swanson, Market Editor
Where do you shop for vintage?
A Current Affair (the Mecca!), Front General in Dumbo, Stella Dallas, Beacon’s Closet, and Etsy. In high school, good shopping was scarce in my hometown of Minneapolis, so my favorite place to shop was a local consignment store called Fashion Avenue, which pools designer items from all over the country. My mom, sister, and I loved to imagine where all the Chanel tweed jackets and impressively large shipments of size 40 Stubbs & Wootton loafers came from. I would later learn that Vogue editors had been consigning there for years. Since then, I have become a voracious vintage shopper.
What is your approach to styling vintage?
My trademark move is to punctuate an outfit with accessories and garments in unobvious ways (A necklace can double as a chain belt, a sock will transform a loafer into a boot, a pair of pajama pants might tie around the waist to cinch a dress, a bandana may serve as a turtleneck, and so on and so forth).
What is your most prized find and where did you find it?
A Comme des Garçons navy blue coat of my mom’s, circa 1990, that I found in the attic. When I was young, I would spend hours combing through the mountainous jumble of boxes in the attic to dig up old gems of my mom’s.
Shortly after I started working at Vogue, during a routine attic rummage session while home for Christmas break, I unearthed this magnificent navy wool Comme des Garçons coat bought at the legendary Oval Room at Dayton’s department store, which has long since closed. The coat quickly became very special to me, and it is certainly the most prized item in my wardrobe—both for its design and for what it represents. When I wear it, I am reminded of my mom, working in fashion when she was hardly older than I am now, living in it as a young mother until the lining frayed and the hem came loose. I love its timelessness. She picked it out two decades ago and that it still feels just as chic and relevant today.
All-time favorite brick-and-mortar to shop?
Front General Store in Dumbo. I love their carefully curated collection of white frocks, indigo-dyed linens, and great vintage jeans.
Alex Harrington, Stylist
Which periods of fashion history appeal to you and why?
I would say the ’20s because I think all the things from that time look modern now. Also the ’40s because I’m feeling wartime-farm girl right now. And today because I’m excited about what we are doing now.
What is your approach to styling vintage?
For me, I don’t like anything to be small. I like everything to be too big, with exploded proportions. I like to feel comfortable.
What is your most prized find and explain how and where you found it?
I have a crazy Schiaparelli blouse from the ‘40s that was my grandmother’s because she was a cabine model for Schiaparelli in Paris. The blouse has horses embroidered in burgundy on the cream silk. It is so tiny. And it has a connection to my family.
