PS: What first got you into vintage?
SE: I moved to Ann Arbor, MI for college and made some friends from Michigan who took me to my first Salvation Army. I started wearing exclusively vintage, came back to NYC that summer and got stopped everywhere I went [with], "WHERE did you get that??" It was pretty clear that there was demand for something that just looked a little different than the mass produced, carbon copied stuff out there. The attention was too much to ignore, so we started selling. The rest is history.
PS: Are there certain brands that you always look for?
SE: Depends on the category. Always love a good Ralph blazer, Pendleton wool shirt, Screen Stars graphic tees, older LL Bean fisherman sweaters. The best "very vintage" pieces from '50s and '60s come from smaller mom n' pop custom shops. They're easy to identify when there's an obscure woven neck tag with the name of a random small city and boutique on it. Those pieces are generally truly one-of-a-kind.
PS: Do you have a favorite decade for vintage finds and why?
SE: It's not a hard rule, but I find that pieces from the '60s have stellar patterns, super high quality fabrics/construction, and are often custom made or from super small batches. Each piece from any era is a piece of history, but it feels extra special when it's truly one-of-a-kind.
PS: What's your best hack for shopping vintage?
SE: I'm a business woman at heart, so efficiency is key. If you're thrifting, you can breeze through racks by looking for patterns and fabrics that are interesting. Stop to check it out when something catches your eye. I generally don't bother looking at tees and sweatshirts when I'm thrifting. The likelihood of finding a perfectly random, soft, clean vintage tee is so slim that it's just not worth the time because the look-at-the-fabric trick doesn't work there, you have to look at each tee on the rack to find something worthwhile.
PS: Do you believe in getting things altered or do you look for the perfect fit
SE: I believe in belts and scissors. If it's huge, belt it. If it's long, cut it. But my cousin lives in jumpsuits and pant suits from the '70s, gets them all altered to fit perfectly, and she looks like a million bucks every time she wears one. So, to each their own. I personally don't get things altered because I don't have time to go to the tailor and it doesn't feel great to spend more on the alteration than I did on the piece. But for the right piece, it's worth it. I have a vintage Bottega Veneta briefcase that I used everyday to go to work when I lived in the city. I feel like a boss every time I pick it up and it's classic — I'll have it forever. I spent $400 to have it restored which was brutal at the time because I spent $250 to buy it, but I can't say I regret it. Unlike a handbag, you only have one briefcase.
PS: Any super memorable finds you can't believe you thrifted?
SE: I lived on the Upper East Side in NYC for several years and there's a thrift shop I went to about once a week for personal shopping, not really for the business because items tended to be too expensive to flip. I found an epic Versace tee with a turtleneck (logo all around the neck) there. It's so obnoxious, but so fun. It was $10.
PS: Are you a collector or do you turn over your own closet and re-sell?
SE: I have about 12-15 vintage t-shirts in my drawer. Three of them are from high school when I dragged my mom to St. Marks street (Andy's) to take me vintage t-shirt shopping. That was very cool of me at the time. I probably add about one per year to my collection. I don't turn them over, if it's cool or soft enough for me to wear, it stays. My aunts and grandmother have given me special pieces from their personal collections that I treasure and keep, even if I seldom wear them. I have a Karl Lagerfeld beaded black blazer from my great aunt that I'm saving for ringing the bell at NYSE the day we go public.
PS: Do you have tips for getting the right fit when shopping vintage online?
SE: Measure your non-stretch clothes as compared to the measurements supplied online. Don't measure your body, and don't go by the labeled size in your clothes or theirs. When measuring bottoms, make sure the rise of your pants that you're measuring are the same as theirs, otherwise it will hit a different point on your waist/hips and need to be smaller/bigger accordingly.
