Our 14 Best Vintage Buys - Thrift Store Clothing & More

Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette! In today's video, we talk about our 14 best vintage buys. Yes, we just thought we just try something new, a different format. If you like it, this kind of more conversational atmosphere, let us know in the comments and we'll do more in this style. So without further ado, let's head in right to our first item, vintage overcoats. What do you think, Preston? I think that's a great pick. I think you've got several vintage overcoats in your collection, after all. Absolutely! I think it's like a potty toe, I have double-breasted British worms, I have fur coats, and all of them I bought vintage. They were really inexpensive and they're really warm and they get me a lot of compliments. I've got a couple of vintage overcoats, as well, so I would definitely echo that sentiment. I've got two colors. One of them is sort of a camel hair color, the other one is navy. Are they real vintage pieces? They are, yep. I got them both in secondhand shops for a fraction of the price of what you would get for a new overcoat. So they were both really steals and I like the style of them, too, because they're both longer than typical overcoats you would find today. Yeah, and that keeps you warmer. We just did videos about Montclair jackets and a Canada goose parka and the overcoats that reach your knee and are really heavy actually keep me warmer at negative 30 degree weather than a Canada goose downgraded for whatever temperature would. So second item, I'd say vintage watches. Horvath comes a bit with a caveat. Well, I mean, you have to know what you're looking for and also in terms of making sure that the watch can actually run. Of course, you can get it repaired if you go to a competent watchmaker but you have to consider several factors when buying a vintage watch. Very true and we already did a guide on what to look for when you buy a vintage watch but I think the number one thing most people underestimate is maintenance. Just having a watch cleaned, you know, costs you 250 bucks at a minimum, if you go to the official Rolex dealer, it's several hundred bucks, maybe even over a thousand dollars. So if you buy this watch that is cheap but doesn't run, it may end up costing you a lot just in repairs. Absolutely, yeah. So next up, the number three item is vintage rings and jewelry and I know that rings are sort of an area of expertise for you. Yes, I mean, I just love them. We did a video about my collection and if you want to learn more about them, check them out. Well, of course, you're not going to see me wear rings very often. It's not that I'm against them, it's just not something I've ever really gotten in the habit of doing. Cufflinks are something that are really great vintage. Have you got any vintage? Yes, I do. I have several pairs of vintage cufflinks and I think in terms of cufflinks specifically and just vintage jewelry in general, you can find a lot of it even on eBay is where I've found a lot of stuff. People will sell, you know, they've got their grandfather's old jewelry box and they're selling it for just a couple of dollars so if you know what to look for and the pictures are good that they've provided, you can find all kinds of pieces for really just a couple of dollars and that's what I've done. Yeah, what I find sometimes, you just get a lot of crap and out of there is maybe one good pair of cufflinks then you just have to purge it. Also, like all of the jewelry I buy for my wife often is vintage jewelry because you just get a lot bigger bang for your buck so where it's an engagement ring, right? With a story and personality, it's gonna cost you a fraction of what you'd pay at a regular store. I'll have to keep that in mind. Next up is china and silverware. Personally, one of my favorite things to buy vintage is formal china because first of all, most people don't want to have it anymore and rather than eating of my plain Ikea plates, I want to have nice china and it's meanwhile so cheap that you can get like gold plated edges for the price of an Ikea plate or even less. Sure, okay. Well, that's good. Yeah, because I think having statement pieces like that, not only is it fun to just experiment with that kind of thing but certainly, if you happen to have company and you can actually break out some awesome vintage china that you've got, your company's gonna think it's that much more special, too. Well, it's an extension of your style, right? So we got some like a nice set of 130 pieces Art Deco china for I think six or seven hundred bucks. Also, you can get silverware. We got a set, it's called WMF 2500, it's like an Art Deco set. Sure. So it goes really well with the plates and the china but it's just a coherent experience and it looks so much cooler than just a new set from Lennox or whatever and it's also a lot less expensive and because it was a popular pattern, it's still around. Yeah, right, which makes it easy to find more pieces and pair them together if you need to and of course, you don't have to go for those earlier sort of Victorian styles. You can look for other types of china, as well, if you want to go for kind of a mid-century modern feel, let's say. Stuff like that is out there, too. Absolutely. Alright, the number five item on our list is ties. I guess I would say, first of all, that I have acquired a few vintage ties at places like Goodwill over the years, again, for just like a dollar or two, some of them and they've got, you know, nice micro patterns and things like that but a lot of my vintage ties actually have just been passed down to me from relatives and from friends which is, you know, a good way of saying that oftentimes, you can get vintage pieces for nothing at all if you know who to talk to. Yeah, if I would get hand-me-down ties from my relatives and my dad, they would be like ugly 90s patterns so I don't think that's a good thing but I've gotten a lot of them at vintage or estate sales and I use them for inspiration to design our Fort Belvedere ties but often what I do is I just check out their collection and sometimes, every once in a while, you have someone who has a lot of bow ties or ties and chances that they sell are not very high, maybe they sell a few so I always check out when's the last day of the sale and then I go there just before it ends and I usually score a bargain where you get it like for 50 cents a tie, I just offer them to buy them all so they're happy because they don't have to purge them and get rid of them and they get money for them so they're very amendable to negotiations. Absolutely, yeah and of course, you bring up a good point, you know, if you're just going to get a bunch of hand-me-down ties from somebody but they've just got a big stash of leather ties or fish ties or ugly stuff that you don't want, you don't need it but if you know that the person you're getting them from has good taste and you can incorporate them into your wardrobe, go for it. Yeah, just pay attention, oftentimes, they're stained or they have moth holes, if you go to a vintage store, they charge you 20 bucks for a tie and sometimes, that's not worth it because the thread is coming apart so definitely make sure that to inspect it. Also tie it because vintage ties are often a lot shorter so they may not work for you. Absolutely, have to pay attention to your build too, that's important. The other thing I've bought quite a bit of vintage are vests, odd vests that are just contrasting with other outfits, especially in England, I find them a lot. What's your experience? Yeah, I don't happen to have any vintage vests or waistcoats in my collection as yet but I think they would certainly be something to look for especially because you could probably get them resized fairly easily, you don't even have to worry about sleeve length which is a big plus. True, yeah, there's just one measurement, it's basically your chest size and then usually, they have adjusters in the back so you can easily put them on and no sleeve length, they just have to cover your waistband basically and they're just a great way to change the look of your suit or your sport coats and some people even wear them without a jacket, that's not me but it does work. So obviously, between the two of us, you're the homeowner here and you can look outside of clothing and other garments like that to other vintage items like for example, maybe furniture? Absolutely, yeah, I mean, a lot of the furniture that we got is all vintage or semi-vintage but it's definitely used and I think when we started out, we just looked around and Mitzvah German was super popular and there were lots of other styles that we liked, more like classic style, right? So we got a nice Chesterfield sofa from Craigslist from Phoenix and had it shipped over here and at the end, you know, it cost like 15% of what a new sofa would have cost in the area but that way, we got a quality piece of furniture at a fraction of the cost of what a new one would cost. Right, so not only was it a bargain but it actually fit better into the style of your home decor anyway, so kind of a win-win. Absolutely and I mean, the same is true for rugs. A lot of people now don't like rugs and you can find some patterns at Ikea or like big box stores but they're like really cool Persian rugs sometimes for like 300 bucks. They help like dampen the sound, keep your room more easy to walk on, like the temperature is more comfortable and overall, they can look good if it's part of your style, right? Unlike with furniture, I think with rugs, it really pays to see them in person because the way the light shines on them and the way they lay can have an impact on how they look so even though it may look great on eBay, it may look sh***y in the room so keep that in mind. Right, so continuing on with that interior decor thing, is there any other vintage items you've picked up as well? Yeah, totally, like paintings, lighting, chandeliers, I really like vintage chandeliers so that makes a huge difference and the quality you get, you know, sometimes gilded bronze and they sell for a few hundred dollars versus a cheap light from Home Depot, you know, will cost you the same but it's made of a composite material that will just age very poorly versus this will stand the test of time. I'm not yet a homeowner but as I get into that market probably within the next year or two here, I think I'll definitely consider looking into some vintage pieces because again, you can find stuff in all kinds of different styles and the quality of those older items can't be beat. Yeah, so you have to watch more videos so we make more money and can pay Preston a higher salary so he can buy a home. So if you are into vintage at all, the best place to buy those things in my experience is a flea market called Brimfield, it is ginormous, there are hundreds of vendors. I went there with my wife for a whole week and you go every day and we still didn't cover the entire market and you can find anything there, you can find super cheap stuff, super expensive stuff, very unique stuff, clothes, I bought a lot of rings there, some tweed jackets and it's just overall a fantastic experience if you like that kind of stuff. Right and where is Brimfield located? I think it's in Massachusetts, it's like two hours or so outside of Boston, it's really in a rural area so you have to kind of stay at an Airbnb or somewhere but yeah, just type in Brimfield into Google and it'll pop up. Sounds like it's worth the trip. It's fun for sure. Actually, last time we bought so much, we have to ship home a bunch of boxes so they have UPS and everything right there so you can ship it from there or just save a few bucks and go to the local post office, it works. Great! Alright, here's our number 11 item and this is a big one for me except for my straw boater which you've seen in a couple of videos, all of my vintage fedoras and trilbies are just that, they're vintage hats, most of them I think are from the late 50s or the early 60s. Nice! Yeah, I can vouch for Preston, he shows up in a hat and a fedora or a boater every day to work and the great thing about these hats, well for one thing, it's easy for me to shop for vintage hats because I've got a relatively small head and when you're looking at vintage hats, those smaller sizes I think are the ones that are more commonly available. What's your hat size? My hat size is right around a seven, sometimes it'll be a sixth and seven-eighths, sometimes it'll be a seven and one-eighth. So if you're in Europe, that means about hat size 56, I'm like four sizes larger, I'm a 60 or like seven and three-eighths, seven and a half. It's more difficult to find hats in that size but it's still possible. I have like 20 vintage hats and I just acquired them from eBay, flea markets, and so forth. Right and of course, given that most of my vintage hats date to late 50s, early 60s, most of them have fairly narrow brims. I love the look of those more 1940s style hats with the wide brims like you would see somebody like Humphrey Bogart wear but I just don't think that they fit my specific face shape quite as well as what I happen to have found. Yeah and if you want to check out the video on what kind of type of hat you should wear for your build and face shape, please check out this video here. The other thing I really like about vintage hats is the quality of the felt and they had a lot more colors and also the headbands, they just have interesting colors and there's a header in town who has like a box of vintage headbands so sometimes, just changing the headband to a vintage one has this really cool color depth and it changes the look of your hat entirely. And the other thing to consider is most of them have like these leather sweatbands inside and sometimes, they are kind of crackling. They can be, yeah. Yeah, so you can always exchange them and put in new ones. I usually go with like fabric ones when I put in new ones because I'm prone to getting zits when I wear a lot of hats so the fabric sweatband helps to reduce that. So I mean, for hats, if you want that 1930s fedora style on eBay, they can be really pricey because that's super popular. Other hats on the other hand are a lot less, right? Absolutely. I got some of my vintage hats, in fact, the one that I wear most often, I think I picked it up for, honestly, about $12.50 was the final price that I paid for it and it's in great condition. Another one that I picked up, it has a few minor moth marks on the underside of the brim but you know, very few people are going to see that anyway. So also, just so long as, again, you can pay attention to the pictures if you're shopping online or just doing a thorough check if it's in person, make sure that it's in good condition and you'll get a lot of use out of it. I mean, I have reblocked my vintage hats myself. I watched a few videos on how to do it, I did it at home with my tea kettle, it was super easy and now they all have exactly the look that I want which is great. Sounds like Preston is going to make another video about hat blocking soon. One more thing about hats, you can only buy them remotely or online if you buy a softer felt hat like a fedora. If you go with a bowler hat or a top hat, you have to try them on because they're in a stiff shape so if the hat is size 60 or 7.5 and that's what you usually have, it may still not fit and you get a really bad headache if you wear them because they just push on your brain. Right. So we already talked about conventional long neckties but we should mention too that I also happen to have a couple of vintage bow ties in my collection and some vintage pocket squares as well. Yeah, I once went to an estate sale here in Minneapolis and the gentleman was a trial lawyer and he always wore bow ties and they were nice, you know, things from like Paul Stewart or printed in England and he just had this rich collection and of course, people are not that keen on bow ties. I mean, more so now than 10 years ago but you know, they maybe sold 10 or so and I bought the remaining 90 and that worked out quite well for me. One thing I have not had much luck with are pocket squares for some reason. There's often not that many and then they're in bad shape. What do you think? Well, I've just gotten lucky. I only have about two or three vintage pocket squares. I got them from a little menswear shop that's local to the area so I guess that's another good tip. If you go to Google Maps or just look elsewhere, even word-of-mouth, find some of those little hole-in-the-wall establishments that you might not normally look for and they might have some great finds especially if they've got something like a bargain basement. Totally or if you travel maybe and you have a few hours to kill, maybe check for vintage stores. Sometimes, they're really cool ones and it's just an experience to go there. Alright, so another thing I should mention here, recently, I was in the market for a dark brown suit that I wanted to wear for an event and you can probably vouch for this. Dark brown isn't a super popular color at least not currently for suits that are being sold. It isn't. We did this one piece about the charcoal brown suit which is kind of a dark brown so that's what you were going for. Right, exactly. But because I couldn't find anything like that in any, you know, big retailers that are currently sold, I decided to see what I could find on eBay and I happened to find one that was in my size, you know, a 38 regular jacket and 30 32 trousers. Does it fit perfectly right now? No, but that's because I haven't taken any additional time to get alterations done. But I mean, no suit off the rack fits perfectly so and oftentimes, a vintage suit has the advantage of a heavier fabric that just drapes better, more naturally. So even if it doesn't fit a hundred percent, it looks very neat. Right, and some of the stylistic details of this particular suit were pretty cool, too. It's a ventless jacket, for instance, so I really like how it, you know, flatters my form and hugs my silhouette. Something they did in the 30s a lot because they just felt that it looked better even though when you stand with your hands in a pocket, it's not ideal, I think. Right, yeah. So what was the event you wanted that suit for? This was actually a concert put on at my alma mater, Gustavus Adolphus College, sort of a Christmas concert thing and you know, when you go back to a place you haven't been in a while, you want to make sure that you look good. So I decided to do it that way. Okay, cool. I've also found that you find really interesting and unique fabrics and details in vintage suits and just the way the gorge is set and the lapel is set, sometimes, it's very specific 30s silhouette or like a 60s silhouette and if you want that and if you want to incorporate into your wardrobe, it's just cool but it's particularly good for people who like hard wearing suits out of a thicker fabric because back then, they didn't have the super thin and flimsy ones. So you want that, vintage suits are probably not for you. Right. Also, on a related note, I picked up a vintage blazer at Goodwill for just about $10. This was, I think, maybe about three or four years ago and you've seen me wear this blazer in several videos already. I've gotten a couple of comments on it from commenters and compliments from people in person so it's one of my favorite pieces in my wardrobe. It only cost me $10 and I think it looks pretty good. Awesome. One thing we both like a lot in vintage is evening wear because back in the day, people had more use for those garments so you see a greater variety in details, so tuxedos in midnight blue with a herringbone fabric or an off-white dinner jacket. Absolutely, yeah. I have a couple of black tie ensembles that I'll wear in sort of my side gig, if you will, as a jazz singer, you know, with classic jazz, that kind of environment almost requires a tuxedo. He even has a vintage microphone so it goes beyond just the clothing. So one of my black tie ensembles is more modern but one which I also found on eBay is a vintage ensemble. I think it dates to about the mid-1950s. It's got really wide grosgrain lapels, it's double-breasted, it's midnight blue. You'll actually see it in some videos that will be coming out around this time but I liked the look of that vintage piece and then I was able to have it tailored so it fit me even better as well. Nice, yeah, I think I have two complete tuxedos, a tailcoat, a morning coat, which is a tuxedo but it's formal wear and a dinner jacket, just all vintage. And now the most important question for each one of our videos, what are you wearing today? Well, of course, all vintage. It's a vintage tweed jacket that I got in Boston, I think, it was about 15 bucks. The shirt is kind of vintage, I got that when I was studying as a vintage shirt from Siniscalchi in Milan. Yeah, my trousers are vintage, got them for 5 bucks, they have this kind of tweedy effect, it's like gray with blue and brown so they combine very well and then for my shoes, they're not vintage, they're just some penny loafers in dark brown. My pocket square is like a vintage Brioni that I found very early on in my style journey. I like the pattern, it's like a brown paisley although it's very small so it sometimes disappears in the pocket, that's why I, with our own pocket squares from Fort Belvedere, I made sure that the right size so they always stay in a perfect spot. The tie is a vintage tie, I like the look of it, it has these kind of brown tones and What about you? I put you in a spot here to film this video so you probably don't have all vintage today simply because I put you in a spot. Right, a little bit of behind the scenes there. We filmed this video sort of impromptu so I'm not wearing a lot of vintage pieces today but I do happen to be wearing one. It's an old vintage necktie and it's not the one you see here which is actually a tie from Fort Belvedere but it's the one that I'm wearing underneath my sweater as a belt. This is a point that we covered recently in our video on 11 bad men's style rules that we think you can ignore. We think that it's perfectly acceptable to wear an old tie as a belt if it isn't really suitable to be worn as a tie anymore. Yeah, Fred Astaire would do that and maybe Preston is going to do a video about all the do's and don'ts, the length of the tie, what to do and whatnot. Well we'll see if it gets in the works but that's the vintage piece in my wardrobe today.