Vintage Clothing & Stores in Florence

Julia Roberts, Winona Ryder and Kate Moss, what do these women share in common?that's right, true love for Vintage clothes. Packed in shadows of todays’s fashion are the collections of 20^th century fashion that have laid the foundation of the true creators , who defined the fashion in 21^th century. A collective term for  new or second-hand garments dating from period of  20 to 100 years ago is what we term ‘Vintage’ . The trend of opening vintage shops in various significant cities is catching up. People are curious of ‘Vintage clothing’ and  they are showing a keen desire to own some . These products have the true essence of taking us back and making us belong  to the era in which it was born. Fashionable women who can easily afford  expensive designer updated clothes are preferring Vintage. The demand and acceptance of this has increased dramatically since the early 1990s, proudly displaying  the heritage and culture of the times and region it belonged to .  The appeal that Vintage clothes give is great for distinguishing oneself and to bring out the individualism inside of us. Retro - styling has caught up in today’s time . With the incredible variety of clothing, jewelry, handbags and hairstyle there is a great  opportunity to explore your free will and become who you chose to be. Perhaps this is the only thing whose value increases with each passing season bringing in more character to the Vintage article.

Florence, being the centre of renaissance art movement and the land where the first ever haute couture  fashion show in  Italy was ever held in 1951 .You can find quite a good assortment of vintage shops here.  In addition to the stores, there is Vintage selection fashion fair that happens every year. For now,We have carefully analyzed a list of  stores  where you can splurge on those rich Vintage items enriching your wardrobe with truly  collector's item. 

1. Melrose Vintage 2. Ceri Vintage  3. Epoca Vintage  4. Jules and Jim 5. Angelo vintage.

 Capturing the aura of a vintage world, we find Melrose the perfect stop for your Vintage needs. Started 3 years back by the brother team of Giuseppe and Salvatore, is situated at two places at via dei Ginori 18r and Via Largo Allinari. The right blend of collection can be found here. Your true desire to buy any collectors item can be fulfilled here. This store conveniently fits your pockets with Items ranging from 5 to 6000 Euros. Starting from Designer scarves of Hermes, Prada, Gucci and many more to authentic alligator skin leather jacket of Jean Claude Jitois from Paris. If you find yourself  unaware of  products make sure you talk to the owner, a vintage dealer, who is ever passionate to talk about his store. Begin your shopping by bringing  out the rockstar in you through shiny metallic belts from Diesel from 80’s &90’s . Beautifully crafted jackets and trench coats from the veteran fashion brand names like Burberry with the famous check lining on the inside, authentic  famous Christian Dior trench coats and suede & leather jackets from Aquascutum , Moschino and Armani. In addition to European brands there are many American brands like  Levis offering its faded  vintage look collection of denim jeans and jackets and Guess displaying its expertise through  tweed jackets in variety of colours with embroidered collars and to embody the sporty feeling you find the very retro styled badges on shoulder pads and sleeves of fleece jackets of the brand Hutcher’s.

We find a very vintage piece of garment known as ‘Frak’ or ‘Tail coats’ from the 50’s stylishly displayed here. Unique collection of sportswear clothes and shoes specially for Cycling from the 60’s and 70’s from Italy and France add an active element to the store. Hats!! The completion to a woman’s attire is displayed here with pride on a pedestal, literally. Beautiful felt and velvet hats with variety of brooches & feather adding  more feminity to the rugged outer display of the store . Spread across the shop, we find a classy collection of  leather , rich luxurious looking  fabrics and lurex canvas handbags with the celebrated logo of Gucci and Pierre Cardin embossed carefully.

While visualizing ‘Vintage’ wear, an image of women’s attire comes to our thoughts. Yet this store stocks up equal number of  items for men and women. Men can  celebrate the bygone eras of  fashion  by adding few items into their wardrobe . Rugged leather boots made from range of animal skins  with different finishes  with  add-ons like  metallic buckles or embroidery to them. Ferragamo shoes for men are quite popular here in addition to vintage canvas shoes from Adidas and Harley-Davidson . There is a bit of ‘Vintage’ for everyone’s yearning. The diversity of the merchandise extends from  retro themed badges to old fashioned Barbie doll model to  old movies video cassettes available in English and Italian. Good news for students and fashion designers, here you find magazines that hold around 70 -80 paper patterns of the vintage styles clothing . In conclusion we safely  say that we are always influenced  by the past period  in fashion that  immensely affects our outlook towards  fashion in today’s time. Come ,live that feeling through the Collection of Vintage Clothing at through the palette of various stores in Florence.

By Priyanka Chugh