In the 80s, vintage US clothes were as cheap as chips in London. Big E Levis, Schott Perfectos, gaberdine jackets, 50s baseball jackets... all could be had for a song. I worked in a vintage clothing store in Kensington Market, and used to take my pick of the bales that arrived weekly from the States. I even paid for some of it...This is a photo of me and some buddies taken for some mag in about '88. We thought we were the Lords of Flatbush. Check out the original cut hanging up behind us. I used to find old MC cutoffs all the time... no one wanted them.
Wish I'd kept some of this clobber, but most of it got sold down the years to pay bills and buy cigarettes.
3 comments:
I used to buy those nicely worn Red Tabs and wonder how anyone could make a profit out of them , they were so cheap.
Then I found out where they all came from !
I'm guessing by the title of this post that you worked at 'FLIP' of London? I shopped at 'Flip' of Hollywood back in the early '80s. Up on Melrose Ave in West Hollywood. There was FLIP, NA-NA's, and Ardvaarks Odd Ark, and a bunch of Jewish retirement homes. They would wheel the old folks out on the sidewalk so they could see all the punk rock kids with mulit colored mohawks.
Funny - buying The Face every month to see what you guys were doing/wearing in the UK. Kept all those mags...
Yeah, I actually worked at one of FLIP's competitors, but FLIP had the cheapest – and best – clothes.
Funny to think you guys were buying mags to see what we were wearing, and what we were wearing was your parents' old clothes, ha ha...
(Early issues of The Face are worth a mint now).
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