The predominance of vintage clothing in New York’s collective closet ebbs and flows with the fashion tides. However, we may be entering another high-water mark in the annals of artfully careworn clothing. While logic might imply that the brick-and-mortar vintage shop is an endangered species in the age of eBay and Etsy—and there have been a handful of retail casualties this year—the city is still home to a rich, and increasingly specialized, landscape of vintage consumption. In order to maintain their relevance, vendors are latching on to specific niches, eschewing the generalist thrift-store model in favor of a more curatorial and boutique-ified approach. There’s the instantly popular purveyor of cotton T-shirts Scout Vintage, the lingerie shop Fille de Joie, and plus-size stockists Re/Dress, just to name a few. In the pages ahead, we take a spin through New York’s vintage-shopping universe, assessing the city’s top stores by specialty, asking shopkeepers for their most beloved items, and peeking into the vaults of several passionate collectors.

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