Lexi Oliveri owner of Antoinette Vintage, wears a vintage skirt, an American Apparel top, Pedro Garcia shoes, a Nixon watch, and vintage bracelet. In the shop (clockwise): antique wooden belt buckle case displays earrings c. 50s-80s ($20-$100); 80s mint green pumps by Nine West ($50); armoir drawer of handbags ($30-$48); suitcase of clutches, chain purses, men’s wallets ($10-$30); Lexi’s Pedro Garcia shoes; (center) man’s bow tie ($25); (circle): 80s western maxi with cowboy print ($50).
PHOTOS BY BEN ROSENZWEIG
By Francesca Moisin
Lexi Oliveri remembers playing dress-up with the stash of old clothes in her parents’ attic. “My dad grew up poor in Brooklyn, my mom in the Bronx, and they both mastered a mentality for conserving everything,” she says. Then Oliveri became a teenager, and that cornucopia of retro frocks, skirts, pants, and tops became embarrassing. “I hid the vast collection from my friends, because I thought it made my mom look like a pack rat.” Yet it was this very dedication to accumulation that enabled her to launch the 415-square-foot Grand Street shop, Antoinette Vintage, two years ago. Almost every piece she now sells was sourced from those familiar garment racks, which is why the uniquely curated boutique bears her mother’s name. One could say a passion for fashion preservation is encoded in Oliveri’s genes. One might call it destiny.
