Katie is a merchant for The Gap. She spends most of her time working there. Since she spends so much time there, she also buys all her clothes there (the employee discount doesn’t hurt, either). Everything she’s wearing is from The Gap. I love her pants and matching shoelaces. Very Pantone 2013.
Katie lives in Fishtown, but is originally from Pittsburgh and proclaimed that Pittsburgh is the best city in the world. Let’s forgive her for that, though, because her shoes are awesome.
I ran into David on 3rd Street, outside of Briar Vintage, and I really enjoyed chatting with him about vintage clothing, the workwear trend, and how he got into the vintage aesthetic. He’s one of the partners at Briar Vintage. He’s really happy to work there: “I used to dig ditches for a living, and now I get to put a tie on.” He told me that the shop is only one of four shops that he knows of on the East Coast that sells only pre-1970s vintage menswear.
Because of his height, he mixes and matches vintage and modern pieces. It’s hard to find all vintage pieces that fit taller people. His pants and shoes are modern, but made by companies that have been around since the 1920s. He’s also wearing a vintage Brooks Brothers shirt with a 1940s tie and a vintage Fred Perry shirt. His glasses are also vintage workwear that he found with green blanks in them. His eye doctor was able to pop out the blanks and insert prescription frames.
“I grew up and saw the way men were supposed to dress — suits and ties. But when I was coming up, the counterculture thing was to get heavily tattoed, so I have hand and neck tatts everywhere. But these days, what’s more counterculture than putting on a neck tie and a jacket?” He added, “It’s cool that people are championing the uniform of the American worker, because I used to be one.”
Outside of work, he likes to go swing dancing, see punk rock shows, go to vintage-themed events, and hang out with his friends.
When he was young, he told his grandfather that he wanted to dress like the swing dancers, so his grandfather took him to Goodwill. His first suit was a “three-roll, two-peak lapel with a double breasted waistcoat, same stuff you see in Boardwalk Empire.”
Amberleigh manages a juice bar on South Street. She’s working towards becoming a naturopathic doctor, and she has a degree in holistic nutrition. Her favorite area in Philly is Germantown and Mount Airy, where she lives.
I was quite out of practice with interviewing people, so I stupidly neglected to ask her about her clothes. I’ve been so focused on getting some details about the souls wearing the clothes that it slipped my mind. After taking a short break this winter, it’s definitely gotten harder to start up again. I’ve gotten rusty and it makes me more nervous. But I’m finding my stride again. I had a really great interview yesterday with a man on 3rd Street. Stay tuned.
Rita is a full-time nutrition and English literature student at Drexel. She really likes to write, read, and paint. Ultimately, she’d love to write, but she’s also interested in potentially being a dietician. She’s originally from New Jersey, but has been in Philly for about a year and a half. She called Philly “diet New York,” but she said that she likes Philly a lot.
Rita likes shopping at Buffalo Exchange, Forever 21, American Apparel, and thrift stores. She also sews and occasionally makes dresses and skirts for herself. Her dress is from Forever 21 and her scarf is from Zara.
It’s been hard for me to start scouting and interviewing again. I’m definitely out of practice and not as bold as I had been when I decided to take a little break. Rita made it really easy for me though. When I first stopped her, she was super flattered and sweet and said that getting stopped by a street style blogger was one of her dreams. You can visit Rita and say hi at either of her Tumblrs: Something About a Fish and Bill Cosby Nudes.
