I am home for the holidays and spent Saturday down in Soho. I visited my favorite shops like Palma and Alexis Bittar on Broome Street. As I was making my way from the #6 subway to Broome Street, I stumbled across a “pop up” shop selling vintage items from someone’s private collection. Oh my, some really beautiful items. I fell in love with a beautiful black bag (I will post a picture soon). Whoever this woman is (they wouldn’t disclose her name), she had quite the collection. There was a beautiful white column silk dress and a love Goddess/Grecian dress in ivory. A beautiful maribou fur black jacket–so much fun. And then a really pretty Italian knit belted dress. I loved so many things! But I stuck with my first love and brought the black bag home with me.

That brings a few things to mind. This is why I adore New York: you never know what you will stumble across. It also made me think: what makes me love vintage so much? I think it’s because the clothes have so much character and personality. I also have noticed that there’s a lot more color to be found in vintage items. There’s a lot more work put into vintage clothes as well.

I went to LA for a few days on a business trip and made a pit stop at a vintage shop on Melrose Avenue called Decades. I learned about Decades when watching an episode of Rachel Zoe (this is one of Rachel’s favorite stores).

Decades has a contemporary store downstairs and a vintage couture shop upstairs. I loved the vintage couture shop. First of all, it’s a very glamorous store. You walk in and there is a flight of stairs covered in leopard print rug. Then the shop is at the top of the stairs. The walls are painted white and the hardwood floors are a deep, dark color.

They have a few accessory cases and then the walls are lined with racks of dresses and clothing. There was a lot of color, which I love. I saw this peach/color floor-length dress with beautiful beading. And then a very lovely yellow blouse with a pretty floral pattern.

This is definitely one of my favorite shops. Definitely worth a visit if you are in LA. One day, I would like to carry vintage couture pieces in my store.