’80s Fashion from Etsy shops Viper Fintage, NOV and Fringe Falcon
Hi Everyone! For our final post celebrating ’80s Fashion Week here at Mirror80, we take a look at New Retro fashion resources. There are many eras to celebrate when it comes to vintage clothing and accessories, but where can you go for fun pieces from the ’70s through the ’90s? Read on for some of our fashion favorites…
Etsy
Etsy is by far one of the best sources for ’70s, ’80s and ’90s clothing online. Many Etsy shop owners take high-quality photographs and make a point of shipping merchandise quickly. In fact, we at Mirror80 have featured quite a few Etsy shops in our blog posts to illustrate the fashion trends of our favorite decades. Above we see a collection of Glam Punk finds from a trio of Etsy shops (clockwise from the top left): Viper Vintage, NOV and Fringe Falcon. Other Mirror80 favorites include LapineOurs Vintage, Klub Kid Vintage and Tigerlily Vintage. Yes, you pay more when you go through a beautifully curated Etsy shop than when you dig through the racks at Goodwill (we’ll celebrate thrifty finds in a bit). But there’s something wonderful about browsing a collection of clothing that has been selected precisely because of its quality and style!
Vintage ’80s party dress from eBay store Stray Cat Struts
eBay
As with Etsy, eBay showcases the power of curation. As a whole, combing through vintage eBay finds may not be the visually pleasing experience that you’re nearly guaranteed with a trip to Etsy (Etsy highly encourages its shop owners to use beautiful photographs). However, when you find a good eBay store, you know it. We enjoy the beautiful photos and finds of Stray Cat Struts (which offers the Vintage Black Formal above). And when it comes to film-based costumes from our favorite decade, it’s hard to beat The Movie Shop, where we discovered treasures like a checkered tie that we featured in our post on Blade Runner fashion.
The Wild Bejeweled Print Sheath Dress from Forever 21
New Retail
If you enjoy the experience of knowing exactly where to look to find retro-style pieces in your size, you’ll be delighted to know that mainstream retailers are increasingly featuring ’80s- and ’90s-style clothing. It’s new, and it often involves a beloved motif from the past…but with a cheeky modern twist! Check out the Wild Bejeweled Print Sheath Dress above, which was available at Forever 21 last spring. Don’t worry–there’s a slew of new picks for this season! Other modern purveyors of New Retro style include Urban Outfitters, Topman and Topshop.
An item from Lucky Vintage Seattle, from The 100 Best Vintage Shops Online by Sammy Davis
Sammy Davis Vintage
Folks, if you haven’t yet been introduced to Sammy Davis Vintage, it’s time you visited the site. In our opinion, Sammy Davis is the top resource for vintage shopping online. For any decade of clothing. And yes, Sammy covers the ’80s and the ’90s in her writing, pointing out popular trends, as well as styles and brands to be on the lookout for when you shop. Good news: Sammy just published a book called The 100 Best Vintage Shops Online! Even better news: there’s a section on ’80s and ’90s shops! One such stellar shop is Lucky Vintage Seattle–above we see a dress from the shop in an image from Sammy’s book.
It’s helpful to have an expert comb through the myriad of shopping options online, curate the best of the best, and take the mystery out of vintage clothes shopping. And of course, share the results with all of us! Thanks, Sammy!
Retro dress photographed by Peter Tung Photography
Thrift Stores and Vintage Boutiques
Are you thrify? One of the best ways to find New Retro clothing is to hit the racks at your favorite thrift store or vintage boutique. This is often where you’ll find the best prices, especially if you go the thrift store route. Sure, it may be a bit time consuming–and a bit more involved than typing the object of your hunt into a search box. But there’s nothing like the thrill of pulling an amazing find from the pile and trying it on in person, only to discover that it’s the one thing you can’t live without. And once you have that one magical piece, it will tide you over until you are lucky enough to discover your next one.
Our favorites include Goodwill and Savers. If the racks at Goodwill are too daunting or time consuming for your taste, you can always rely on vintage boutiques with a discerning eye. These retail shops often group items by decade or style, preserving the thrill of the hunt but removing some of the grunt work. Above we see a retro tribal dress from the Austin, Texas-based New Bohemia. (If you can’t get there in person, don’t worry–they also have an Etsy shop). In fact, the dress was part of a photo shoot we collaborated on with Peter Tung of Peter Tung Photography and Matthew Klimek of MDK Styling. The majority of the accessories modeled by Melissa Swanepoel in the image above are also thrift and boutique finds.
Happy shopping, everyone! And let us know if you have a favorite source for ’80s fashion that we’ve missed…
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