Vintage in Vegas

Happy 4th 5th of July!

This post was supposed to go up yesterday – it seemed fitting to post my Vegas vintage guide on the 4th of July, but sadly a broken click-pad on my Mac makes for huge difficulties in the editing department! But I’m heeeere now, and hope that my American readers had a fantastic day!

When I was over in Vegas, I dodged the shops that I could find in London and made a beeline for the kind of places that I really get excited about – small, independent vintage stores! Hopefully if you happen to visit Vegas too you’ll find this useful.

Now there isn’t a huge amount of vintage in Vegas, but definitely enough shops to spend a day visiting them. Whilst some of these places are relatively close to each other, I wouldn’t recommend walking, especially if you visit in the summer! I was lucky enough to have my friend Tracy and her air-conditioned car on hand to show me around, as I didn’t find the buses very tourist friendly and waiting for them in the heat is no fun either!

So, without further ado…

Charleston Antique Mall, 307 W. Charleston

This place was one of my favourites! It was an Aladdin’s cave of beautiful old things! Don’t be fooled by my pictures, they had a few small ‘rooms’ full of vintage clothes, but they weren’t as exciting to photograph! I fell in love with a long white lawn dress, but even at $47.50 it was out of my price range. The bright 60s and 70s dresses I kept coming across on the rails weren’t the kind of vintage items I’d normally see in England so it was great fun fingering through them. There was also some very ‘Vegas’ vintage, in the form of sequined bras and thongs!

If you’ve been to Brighton, you’ve probably been to Snoopers Paradise, and it really reminded me of that. It is well worth a visit – it’s far bigger than it looks from the outside!

The Attic, 1025 South Main Street

The bright, colourful Attic was a pleasure to look around. Their usual premises had been damaged in a fire but their new setup just across the road looked equally as impressive. It’s clearly a place where people go to find their ‘going-out’ attire, and for the most part the clothes were perhaps a little bright and eccentric for my taste. Saying that, I did manage to find a velvet 60s number with a huge pointy collar that was right up my street – the shop owners even offered to put it back for me, and even ship it to me in England if I wished! Sadly, I couldn’t warrant spending my last dollars on a new dress so it had to go back on the rail, boo!

The customer service here was amazing – and unlike most vintage shops I visit they had a huge section for men too!

The Gypsy Den, 213 E. Colorado

The Gypsy Den was probably the least me out of all of the shops I visited, but I think I might have loved it the most! It certainly lives up to it’s name – the tiny shop is full of little treasures – I could imagine a lot of fashion bloggers having fun here!

The friendly owner Katie customises clothing, as well as designing unique pieces of jewellery and headpieces. Thankfully for you, she sells them online too on Etsy!

The shop just had such an amazing vibe to it – I only wished I could have been there for it’s transformation into a music venue and arts space – if you venture outside the shop you’ll see a gypsy caravan that turns into a stage, and a tiki-hut bar that comes alive once a month for the events that are held there.

Calo Style, 1441 Las Vegas Blvd.

Towards Downtown Vegas, right towards the end of the Strip, you’ll spot a bright pink boudoir – Calo Style! Just a hop and a jump away from the famous wedding chapels, they certainly merchandised their shop well with a poofy vintage wedding dress on display as you enter.

I was really impressed with their selection of vintage swimwear, which I can’t say I’ve ever come across in England before. I fell in love with that yellow number above! I also tried on a frilly-cuffed 60s mini too but the age-old problem of having big boobs meant that it didn’t fit!

As well as being super duper helpful, the girls working at Calo Style were impeccably dressed too – I just had to snap one of them, doesn’t she look amazing?! I told her she should start a blog ; )

Buffalo Exchange, 4110 S. Maryland Parkway

Not strictly a vintage shop, but definitely worth a mention! At Buffalo Exchange, you can bring your old clothes in exchange for a percentage of the sale price, or new clothes! Please somebody tell me we have something like this in London because this place was great!

The stock is hand selected, and they only accept things that are in good condition, and are relevant, so a lot of the stock is barely worn highstreet clothing. I came across several American Apparel goodies at a fraction of their normal price, as well as some cheap vintage tops (remember that 70s embroidered blouse I wore to Glasto? $8!). I was also tempted by some brand new brogues but ran out of money! It felt a bit like eBay..but in real life..

I believe they have many other stores across America too, and I’d definitely recommend a visit as you never know what you’ll come across!

If you make it to any of the shops or you’ve been – let me know! I’d love to see what you bought! x