There are a few vintage shops in Tsim Sha Tsui and Causeway Bay, but I've generally found them to be oriented more towards hipsters and young people, with a focus on denim and t-shirts. There are a few consignment shops in Pedder Building (wait, are they still there? I haven't visited in years), but I don't really need an Ungaro ballgown.
For me, the only consistent source for vintage clothing is Beatniks. It used to be in Tsim Sha Tsui and relocated a couple of years ago to Central. Some of you may have gotten worried when it disappeared from its wet market location. But a couple of months later, Beatniks has resurfaced at 31 Staunton Street at Graham. Now, it's a bit weird in terms of location. You have to walk down Graham a bit from Staunton Street and it's in a little alley way on the left. It's right next to some faux-Italian restaurant called Cenacolo.
Beatniks is run by Ah Mo, who has a great pair of stylist's eyes. She's picked out things for me that I would never have even looked at, and she was always right. Most of the clothes in Beatniks are from the 1960s up to the 1980s, but really, the shop sells whatever Ah Mo picks up from her sources all over the world.
That violet dress with ruffles is really cute. It's about HKD400. Hm...am I too old to wear it?
I will be back for this one.
Love this entire outfit.
Damn! I love that dress. I would wear it during ghost month and wander around at night.
The white dress with yellow embroidery is beautiful.
Here are some of the items that I've bought from Beatniks over the years. I tried to wear them with as few accessories as possible to give you an idea of what they look like on their own. None of them cost more than HKD400. I should mention, however, that I've had most of these clothes altered at Mitty, but that was also really cheap, less than HKD100.
This dress was a size too big originally, but Mitty did such a great job taking it in.
I love yellow dresses.
This dress makes me feel like I stepped out of Sympathy for Lady Vengeance.
Love the belt.
A dress I would never have chosen, but I'm glad Ah Mo showed it to me. I wear it all the time during summer. It's kind of like the sartorial equivalent of a mullet: business (or rather, dowdiness) in the front, party in the back.
Another top I wouldn't have ever chosen for myself, but Ah Mo made me try it on, and I fell in love. Ugh, this pose makes me look so fat.
Sorry, this ended up being such a vanity-driven entry. I hope it's shown you the variety of choices you'll find at Beatniks, though. And this should be enough to assuage my obviously-huge ego for a while, so I won't be boring you with more pictures of me standing on a newspaper in my living room with an occasional guest appearance by Chabi's butt until I need the next dose of vanity.
Anyway, head on over to Beatniks as they're having a sale right now, probably till the end of the month.
ps. I know that there are a couple other vintage clothing and accessories shops in Central, but I'm not going to write about them because I don't think their pricing and selection are reasonable. So it's not that I don't know, but I'd rather not write a negative review, especially since I know one of the owners.
