A Thread about where to shop secondhand in New York
NYC recon part 2!
Hello friends! Here’s part 2 of my New York diary, where I’ll be talking about where I shopped, what I listened to, and some things I read. If you haven’t seen Part 1, here’s a testimonial from my mum:
(I think she liked the bit about taste testing a David bar).
Despite spending two weeks in New York, I actually only did one day of shopping. But what a day it was! I began at Union Square, and slowly made my way south through Downtown Manhattan, combing the city for secondhand finds like a bloodhound on the scent.
My first stop was INA. It’s a consignment store where I used to sell a lot of my ‘contra’ back when I was modelling - that was what they called it when you were paid in clothes. (On one visit, whilst trying on a studded Isabel Marant sandal, I spotted a man called David Croland, who I’d seen just days before in a documentary about Robert Mapplethorpe. He was a model back in the 80s, and Mapplethorpe’s first male lover. We got chatting and I ended up going for tea at his apartment in Midtown.)
At INA this time, I didn’t meet any of Mapplethorpe’s former lovers, but I did find some great jackets. I began at the menswear store on Prince street, where I was looking for a casual summer jacket - the kind of thing you can throw on as the midday heat begins to cool, but isn’t bulky or cumbersome to carry around (apart from denim jackets, this a deceptively difficult brief).
The first one I tried on was a padded nylon moto jacket. I’m always drawn to vintage Harley Davidson merch - perhaps I was a biker babe in a past life, or maybe I was just very influenced by ‘Girl on a Motorcycle’, the opening piece in Rachel Kushner’s essay collection ‘The Hard Crowd’ which I read last year. The essay is a blistering account of her spectacular crash whilst racing the Baja 1000 in Mexico, a notoriously dangerous off-road course, echoes of which pop up in her bestselling novel ‘The Flamethrowers’.
I’m digressing again - here’s the jacket:
Spoiler: I didn’t buy it. As you can see from my glowy face, it was a hot day made hotter by this definitely-very-insulated jacket - hardly the spring coverup I was searching for.
I did find a crinkly Calvin Klein number that looked a little more convincing - a featherlight black blazer made of a technical fabric.
Despite its airy texture, this jacket was a false friend. It was deceptively cosy! So much so that I immediately felt flustered and hot. Also - it looks pretty bad on me.
Like Goldilocks raiding the three bears’ wardrobe, I put down Daddy Bear’s Calvin Klein blazer and picked up my third option. It was a simple, boxy design by Paul Smith jeans, made of black cotton.
Like Baby Bear’s porridge, it was just right. At $149, it wasn’t toooo expensive either. Before I left, I tried on a couple more things - a waistcoat that belonged somewhere between my Avril Lavigne era and ‘Is this it’ by The Strokes, some too-short Junya Watanabe technical trousers and a pair of Rick Owens-esque drop-crotch pants which made me look a bit like I was taking my haul home in my underwear. Needless to say I didn’t buy any of these.
The last thing I was on the fence about was a black satin Paul Smith set from the late 90s, which comprised a stiff, silky shirt with long, witchy collar points and matching narrow pants. I couldn’t quite justify the price tag, but - like any great vintage you leave behind - they haunt me already.
Weaving through Soho, I stumbled across the INA womenswear store on Mott Street, so decided to take a look. The selection was much more brightly coloured and brand-focused, the rails spilling over with decorative flourishes and extravagant silhouettes.
I headed straight for the shoe section at the back, which looked a bit like a celebrity’s shoe-drobe on an episode of AD Open Door. Rows upon rows of brightly coloured stilettos and shiny patent leather from Christian Louboutin, Prada and The Row (the latter not brightly coloured at all, obviously).
Amongst the glittering melee, one pair caught my eye - a black patent platform with a perspex upper, which tickled a seed of nostalgia deep inside my brain.
Yes, this is a test. The correct answer is Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld, Spring/ Summer 2007, the Freja Beha Erichsen era. 15-year-old me dreamed of being this girl.
Apart from the platforms, I didn’t see anything that especially caught my eye, other than this Luar cape/ parka situation, which the shopkeeper told me was ‘very my style’ whilst looking pointedly at my toe shoes. Per above, I wasn’t allowing myself any more jackets, but one of my NYC readers should go snap it up.
After INA, I wandered down into the Lower East side, where I stopped by a vintage store-cum-gallery called Everything’s Fine. By this point, my phone had run out of battery so they kindly charged it for me whilst I tried on a huge haul. I left with a fully charged phone and an enormous purple t-shirt which called to me in ways I couldn’t possibly understand, particularly given my predilection for a Brenda Hashtag-esque monochrome wardrobe. In fact, I’m even wearing it right now:
I also stopped by the Maryam Nassir Zadeh store, where the girl working there pointed out that they sold my skirt - Dauan Jacari’s Spiral Boxer Skirt. She told me that Solange had bought one recently.
From there I crossed the Williamsburg bridge, heading towards Beacon’s Closet in Greenpoint (and a burrito in McCarren park).
As I ambled down Bedford Avenue, I stopped at one of my favourite vintage shops - the magical Malin Landeaus, which I wrote about for RUSSH magazine back in 2017. My first encounter with the shop was after a casting back in 2015. I’d recently moved to New York, and stopped in to shelter from the pouring rain. Malin gave me a cup of tea and a homemade cake, and we chatted for a while. The store still radiates with the same warmth, and it was reassuring to find that it had stayed untouched, especially when so much of the surrounding area has changed (ahem, gentrification).
Luckily my beloved Beacon’s Closet also remained intact - an enormous consignment store near the Greenpoint end of McCarren Park (part of a chain, there are other locations too but this one is my favourite). It’s packed with rails upon rails of secondhand gems, a chaotic place where you really have to dig, but when you do, you’re guaranteed to be rewarded. (I had a friend who basically used to operate a one-in-one-out system whereby she’d keep about 50% of her wardrobe on rotation, just buying things from Beacon’s and selling them back once she got tired of them. We love a circular queen!)
It was here that I was ricocheted into my fashion-obsessed teenage years once more, courtesy of this ombre Prada shoe:
I’m pretty sure this was from the brand’s Fall/ Winter 2007 show, a mishmash of bubbly, rough wool, silk faux fur and laminated lumpy t-shirts. It was the first time I really understood Mrs Prada’s unique brand of ‘ugly chic’. Who would want to wear these hideous clothes? And yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about them.
Perhaps this season was also fresh in my mind thanks to Melissa Kenny, who wore a blazer from the same collection in her recent 3 Minute Thread.
I wasn’t looking for another jacket, but one found me - an equally nostalgic little Zac Posen blazer. In those early fashion years, I remember all the Hollywood girls would wear Zac Posen, who was often featured in American Vogue as one of Anna Wintour’s favourite designers. More recently, he’s become the Creative Director of GAP, another symbol of all-American fashion and its legacy. So when I put it on and it fit perfectly (and was only $60), I knew I had to get it - a symbolic memento for a very New York fashion day.
It was either that or the Seinfeld puffer:
What I read…
Speaking of Luar, I loved the profile of designer Raul Lopez in the latest Apartmento magazine, especially the story of him meeting Shayne Oliver. Despite what I said above, Hood by Air is the TRUE legacy of New York fashion - between Raul Lopez, Shayne Oliver and Telfar Clemens, they completely changed the game in fashion. I think we’ll look back on them the same way we do the Antwerp Six.
Another book I read during my trip was ‘Outline’ by Rachel Cusk. I know this is a fashion newsletter not a literary one, but I really want to talk about this book. If you’ve read it, please tell me what you thought in the comments?
The novel is essentially made up of different characters telling the narrator all about their lives - but we never learn much about the narrator herself, despite the fact that she speaks in the first person. Formally, this makes for a really interesting story. Per the title, we get the ‘outline’ of her as a protagonist, through the way the other stories refract off her. Her presence is realised in its absence.
Overall though, it makes for a frustrating read - I felt like I was always grasping at the empty space where she should be. Plus all the people talking to her are incredibly ranty! The one thing you do learn about her is that she spends time with some very self-involved people… That said, I think some of the observations about life and people are very astute, it’s beautifully written, and the cover design is deeply satisfying.
What I listened to…
I was accompanied on the above shopping excursion by model Paloma Elsesser and podcaster Recho Omondi - in a purely parasocial way. Another great episode of The Cutting Room Floor, Omondi’s podcast.
I also had my friend HAAi’s new song, Satellite, on repeat. It’s a haunting and beautiful song, produced in collaboration with Jon Hopkins, Obi Franky and London’s Trans Voices choir. She was one of my earliest guests on the podcast! You can listen to her episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
What I watched…
Bonjour Tristesse, of course!
And finally, a teaser for the upcoming season of Threads of Conversation podcast…
Have you listened to the Threads of Conversation podcast? You can also find it on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. You can also follow Threads of Conversation on Instagram and TikTok. Subscribe below for more podcasts, essays and interviews.
Loose Threads
Relating hard to Nadia Lee Cohen in the new Instagram campaign, inspired by the film poster I (as a nearly 6 foot 2 woman) most readily associate with.
Loved listening to this episode of Song Exploder, a podcast where an artist and the producer(s) behind a song come together to explain how they made it. This week’s episode was with ANOHNI, talking about her song ‘4 degrees’.
This week I’ve been thinking about quilting as a form of memory and resistance, after the Aids memorial quilt went on show at the Tate Modern this weekend.
London’s North Kensington library is also home to the creation of a 220-foot quilt, which is being made to commemorate the lives lost in the Grenfell Tower fire, one of the deadliest and most devastating residential fires in UK history. Saturday marked the 8-year anniversary of the tragedy.
Citizen Magazine (the magazine founded by Henrietta Gallina) commemorated the anniversary by sharing photographs taken by Khadija Saye, a Gambian-British artist who lost her life in the fire. You can read the full article about her work here.
Start your own Thread
What have you been reading/ watching/ doing this week? Do you enjoy my diversions into literary criticism, or should I stick to fashion and stop banging on about books…?
(As in, the second one you bought)
Second jacket looks DANGEROUSLY good on you