100 years of the rag trade
Things are in a bit of a hubbub over at the Charleston Antique Mall (where I've been known to help out the brunette with the vintage and collectible books and records at "Cat's Curiosities") over the joint's "100 Years of Fashion" exhibit, officially opening in grand "costumed" style at 11 a.m. Sunday, March 22.
The number of vintage clothing stores in the area seemed to have dwindled, with the demise last year of the "House of Style," in the central Arts District.
But le plus qui change, and all that. Annie Lee, who launched in blue-collar Arlington, Va., a few years back, subsequently negotiating the predictable move across the river to Georgetown (I first heard Stephane Grappelli in Georgetown, though that's a tale for another day) has opened an upscale outlet at the Palazzo/Venetian shops on the Strip, dubbed "Annie Creamcheese."
"The Refinery" ("Celebrity Resale," self-described -- designer labels, certainly) out Green Valley way, on East Sunset near Sandhill, is also not for the bargain hunter. There's still a Buffalo Exchange near UNLV at Maryland and Flamingo (buy or trade, supposedly.) Back near the downtown arts district, the Attic on South Main near Charleston (bluejeans, anyone?) is nearly across the street from the Opportunity Village thrift shop, which sports a small "boutique" -- a noble effort, though one occasionally suspects this is just an excuse to mark up the price on anything with sequins. (The Salvation Army started that, didn't they?)
But the Charleston Antique Mall, also right downtown, the other side of the tracks and a few hundred yards west from South Main Street at Charleston and I-15, seems to be the current undiscovered country for vintage garb (that is to say, they've got rooms full of the stuff -- if you haven't been there in the past year you haven't seen anything), and determined to do something about it with the above-mentioned mall-wide exhibit featuring the clothes of each decade since the 1890s, free to the public seven days a week from 10 to 6 (11 to 5 on Sundays), March 22 through April 18.
Mannequins all over the place. Today, someone hung a purple zoot suit in the book room. I kid you not. Purple.
The mall, once named for and associated with the neighboring "Red Rooster" (there seems to have been a parting of the ways), sprawls next to the old Holsum Bread factory, the last now converted to a trendy office park. You can see the Antique Mall from Charleston, but access is southbound past the ambulance depot along Martin Luther King Jr., your first left on Wall Street east to pass under I-15, then left again (northbound) on Western.
The organizers promise "Antique and vintage outer wear, bridal wear, day, evening, leisure and lingerie, hats and accessories of all types ... most on loan from private collectors. ...
"With the current rage for vintage and retro clothing, mid-century fashion designs and the iconic styles of the 1950s and '60s -- Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy -- will highlight the exhibit." Also some vintage men's fashion -- presumnably including the purple zoot suit. Et cetera.
Call the Charleston Antique Mall at (702) 228-4783 for more. Did I mention they also offer vintage and collectible books? Seven days a week.
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