Margaret Rhodes/The Daily Northwestern
Factory Vintage is a tribute to another era. Printed polyester dresses dating back to the 1950s hang on racks around the store. Nearby, a mirrored display case shows off Bakelite bracelets, feathered hats and reflective neon Wayfarer sunglasses.
Caitlin Stephenson has owned Factory Vintage, one of Evanston’s few vintage stores, for two years. When the previous owner left, she took over the store, located at 1043 Chicago Ave.
Stephenson painted the walls a salmon color, added carpeting and changed the name from Viva Vintage to Factory Vintage.
She said her goal was to emulate a famous store in England called Biba.
“It was … affordable fashion, and it was a lifestyle inspired by stuff from the ’30s and ’40s,” she said. “(The store) was laid out a lot like ours, with old-school glamor.”
Amy Mayberry, Viva Vintage’s owner, said this is the third generation of vintage shops for this storefront. Before she owned the space it was called Fabola. The style has changed with each owner, she said.
“It’s been a pattern so far,” she said. “You learn how to do something and then of course you have your own ideas about how you want to do it. It’s kind of like mentoring, and we don’t have apprenticeships anymore in retail.”
Margaret Rhodes/The Daily Northwestern
Most of the retro furniture in the store, including a vanity and a record player, came from Stephenson’s grandmother. An old teal-blue barber chair from the 1960s, complete with two sets of ashtrays, came from her father’s old photography studio.
Mayberry (Weinberg ’94) said when she was in high school wearing vintage clothing was more of an alternative fashion choice than it is today.
“Right around the ’90s it became more mainstream in the fashion sense,” she said. “They wanted one vintage piece to make an outfit more interesting or they realized the vintage dress they bought looked exactly like a Prada piece.”
Stephenson tries to put new items on the floor every week. She buys the vintage clothing frequently from Evanston and Chicago residents cleaning out their closets and chooses items based on whether she thinks they might sell.
“I read a lot of fashion magazines,” Stephenson said. “Almost all of fashion now is ripping off something from before.”
She also incorporates brand-new merchandise in the mix, such as sunglasses and some jewelry.
Stephenson sells most dresses for $10 to $20, but her prize piece, a 1950s hand-painted Emilio Pucci outfit, is priced at $2,000. The dress is a hand-me-down from the previous owner of Viva Vintage. Stephenson said she hopes to sell the dress to a European or Japanese collector.
In order to cater to clientele looking for costumes, Stephenson said she tries to hunt down “over-the-top” fashions from past decades.
“For ’80s-themed parties, people want to go all out,” she said. “The extreme shoulder pads, the football player-like shoulder pads, people wouldn’t want to wear in real life.”
The shop also acts a resource for theaters in need of costumes, she said. The Goodman Theatre and Northwestern’s costume shop have used the store. Jacqui Jarrold, a Communication sophomore, said vintage clothing is an asset to designing costumes for a show, especially when on a tight budget.
“Shopping vintage is really helpful to the general aesthetic to the show,” she said. “From the $10 to $20 range, or if it’s a really specific piece you need, it’s worth paying $40 for.”
Mayberry said the market for vintage stores should be growing, because it is often more affordable.
“Lately a lot of people who have never bought vintage or secondhand are doing so now for the price benefits,” she said. “Anyone who’s not vintage shopping is missing a great opportunity to save money and look fabulous.”
