Tags
1960s, Archive Vintage, Dallas Vintage Stores, Designer Vintage, Salvation Army, Vintage clothing, Yves Saint Laurent
There are lots of vintage websites out there. Some are interesting, some are sparse, but some really stand out because of their thoughtful content and beautiful details. One store that does this is Archive Vintage. I discovered the site a few months ago and I have been hooked ever since. The pieces are all designer vintage from the ‘60s-‘80s, and if you read this blog regularly, you know that designer vintage is my life! I love how Archive styles their clothing on mannequins as opposed to models, so that you don’t have to awkwardly compare yourself to a blonde amazon. The owner Kerry was nice enough to answer a few of my burning questions, so here are her thoughts on models, blogging, and the future of vintage! P.S. if you live near Dallas, be sure to check out their store!
WoodstockWardrobe: Have you always had a passion for vintage clothing?
Archive Vintage: Yes, I have always loved vintage clothing. When I was 5 or 6 years old, I started borrowing my mother’s vintage pieces, like her silver sparkly tights from the ‘60s. And when I was around 12, I discovered the Salvation Army. I grew up in Long Island, New York and all we had was the mall to shop. Vintage clothing gave me a way to be different and I just loved it from the start. Shopping was exciting again.
WW: How did Archive Vintage come to be?
AV: When I moved to Dallas, I started finding so many great vintage pieces and decided that I wanted to open the online shop.
WW: Does the name have any special meaning?
AV: We wanted a name that was simple and we feel it represents us because we are like a designer vintage archive.
WW: Describe your process for finding the clothes you sell, is there a specific criterion you follow?
AV: We only take designer pieces from the 60’s – 80’s that are in perfect condition. People send us pieces from all over the country and we are also always looking.
WW: What designers do you tend to gravitate towards?
AV: I always seem to buy Yves Saint Laurent, and a lot of Japanese designers like Miyake, Matsuda and Comme des Garcons.
WW: Have you found that any particular pieces or eras sell better than others?
AV: I feel like we sell 70’s and 80’s the best.
WW: What goes into the website (models, shoots, stylings, etc.)?
AV: We try and photograph all of the new designer merchandise on a mannequin and post every 2 weeks. We don’t use models anymore. There isn’t much styling, we want to show the pieces just as they are so the customer can envision how it would look on themselves as opposed to how it looks on a certain type of model or styled a certain way.
WW: Describe the editorial portion of your site (i.e. the blog).
AV: Unfortunately, the blog doesn’t get enough attention. We try and write about new arrivals or a certain designer when we have time.
WW: How do you think online vintage sellers compare to brick and mortar vintage stores?
AV: I think that every shop is different. We like a clean sparse online shop, which is pretty much what our brick and mortar store looks like too.
WW: Where do you ultimately see Archive Vintage going?
AV: For now, we’d just like to start blogging more and maybe just update the website a bit.