It takes a great deal of digging through musty racks of polyester to unearth something wearable, but working for something endears it to you. Most items are better suited to tacky dress up parties than evenings out on the town. The truly unique piece that has survived decades to join your wardrobe is the reason we are all there, from hipster to bobo, as the French call their bohemian yuppies.

My favorite place in Paris to dig up frocks is Free P Star whose name plays on the French word for second hand clothes, fripes. The two Marais shops, often overrun with business, make a good distraction in route to a falafel dinner in the Jewish quarter. Vintage dresses, skirts and leather purses are what I find myself snapping up at 10 to 20 Euros a piece, and prices seem negotiable if bargaining is done with a coy smile. Digging in the catch-all bins below the racks you may find a conversation piece for 3. I like pulling out the tattered tags that each garment wears, often to find a familiar name, sewn in 30 years ago by a chain I frequent today.

It’s rare that I leave empty handed. When I arrive home with pink plastic sack in tow Cheri asks, “What did you buy?” Piece by piece I pull out my score. “Oh, it’s not expensive,” he mutters after appraising lot of handwritten price tags wearing 5's and 10's.
things I've found

Read more about vintage garments here


Addresses:
Free P Star
8 rue Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie
& 61 rue de la Verrerie

L’as du Falafel
34 rue des Rosiers
75004 Paris

I also like reading about Paris vintage shopping at the site below...