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I am reminded of a certain men’s chain clothier with a name that’s a spinoff of the word “warehouse,” oft found throughout suburban America. Its commercial campaign ends in the tagline “I guarantee it.”
But the Williamsburg, inner-city counterpart, this weekend is Vintage shop Amarcord (Warehouse Sale), offering bargains upon bargains.
Fashion Week. The pageantry. The lack of sleep. The excuse to paint the outline of Brooklyn over my eye as a paean to 60s mod redux style. And of course, plenty o’ opportunity to meet and reconnect with fabulous arbiters of style based in North Brooklyn.
Saturday eve’s first stop was a swing by the Chictopia Vice magazine party at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. I spotted a celeb or two, including the deejay of the evening, Erika Forster of Williamsburg’s very own dream pop trio Au Revoir Simone. The crowd was chock-a-block with headbands and winged eye makeup. ARS fandom or part of the current Roaring 20s trend? I’ll let you ponder for yourselves (me thinks it was a bit of from column A and column B). In the meantime, let your eyes feel the fashion beat from this pic from the deejay booth.
I have been meaning to stop by Bedford Ave’s Amarcord Vintage for some time now. Given the Snowperbole that befell the Eastern Seaboard—as well as the fact that Amarcord is running a half-off special on snow boots, I figured it was high time to brave the ever-temperamental G train and head over.
What immediately caught my eye were these mukluks. Hitting about calf length on my 5’9 frame, both pair (normally retailing for $125; currently $62.50 during the sale) offer a plush mode of warmth for these slush-ridden days—and with a look more unique than Sorels and much more practical than the Aussie surfer slippers—my favorite-NOT, Uggs.
Unfortunately, these economic times aren’t a-changin quickly enough. Yet we prevail. We eke on by, with meager diets heavy on the cheap fruit, veggies and ramen (with the occasional latte or brewski thrown in for balance on our recessionary culinary pyramid).
For the budget savvy: enter the Brooklyn’s Bitches on a Budget, an online site launched last summer which finds its inspiration from the need to be ever so frugal: from taking on a $100/month-salary filmmaking stint. The brainchild blog of School of Visual Arts film student Bennett Elliott—how much orthographic alliteration can we wedge in?—the site, crafted lovingly from her home, or as Elliott terms it, pretty much the most perfect apartment in the entire universe,” nestled just adjacent to the Metropolitan/Lorimer G/L stop, pretty much lives up to its name (in terms of living on a budget, that is. She herself is quite sweet).
The word “gold” conjures images of Olympic victory, wealth, images on Lucky Charms cereal boxes and perhaps, wiretapped conversations involving deposed Illinois governors. It has served as a monetary standard as well as being a great electrical conductor. But for this discussion it is the color of chemical element number 79’s affinity for fashion.
I was moved to write about the yellowish metal after seeing this great little gold-sequined black chiffon dress from Greenpoint’s Dalaga (the store is covered in this blog here). The gold splashes out from the left shoulder across the bias over and over the rich black v-necked collar in a sartorial expression of a 1920s speakeasy.