Toni's Vintage Trips: Soho Vintage

On Friday, Kat and I had an amazing shopping trip through Soho with Suzanne of ZTrend ((646) 267-1228), www.ZTrend.com/Shop). We met at a small cupcake shop for coffee and then headed through the teeming shopping district to our first stop, Allan & Suzi home of retro and modern fashion (237 Center St., New York, NY, www.allanandsuzi.net). Since it was morning and the store was just opening, we had a chance to chat with Allan who is a most interesting and colorful person. His store is large and full of vintage and modern clothing on the outrageous level, including a hand-painted wedding dress hanging from the ceiling. It was such a fun place to photograph, that I took way more photos than will fit here, but you'll get the idea.

After our visit to Allan & Suzi, we stopped by Amarcord Vintage Fashion (252 Lafayette St., between Price & Spring, New York, NY, amarcordvintagefashion.com). The sales rep behind the counter used to work at Labels in Walnut Creek, so I had a Bay Area connection with this store. Amarcord is a lot like Labels in that it has high-end vintage and consignment clothes at reasonable prices and in good condition. Their clothes are more conservative, but it is definitely a store worth checking out.

Traveling down Prince Street, we stopped in at Ina (21 Prince St., New York, NY, www.inanyc.com), a small boutique with some beautiful designer clothes and shoes. It was too expensive for my taste, but I enjoyed photographing individual items. Next stop was Housing Works (130 Crosby St., New York, NY) a vintage clothes and thrift shop that has a little bit of everything, including furniture and books. Proceeds from this store go towards fighting HIV/AIDS and homelessness, so I felt good buying something here. I Bought a beautiful vintage fur muff for only $15. But now that I'm back home in Berkeley, I'll have to keep it away from my cats, as they will think it was a present for them. It would also make a fabulous pillow.

Since I took so many photos on this shopping trip, I will also be posting a part 2. I want to thank Suzanne again for showing us around Soho and taking us to so many interesting stores. It was the highlight of my trip.