I'm Kim Bhasin, luxury reporter at Bloomberg,
here to invite you into the most exclusive realms
of luxury retail.
This is Invitation Only.
Today, I'm in Chelsea, the Manhattan neighborhood
with everything a fancy person could ask for.
Tons of super expensive art.
A bustling, pricey market.
And a formally posh hotel turned historic landmark.
Once home to notable fancy guests like Lillie Langtry,
Milos Forman, Jane Fonda, and Bette Midler.
So with its knack at preserving old beautiful things,
it shouldn't be a surprise that Chelsea is also home
to the world's fanciest used clothing shop,
New York Vintage.
(doorbell rings)
Hi.
Hello.
Hi, welcome.
How are you?
I'm good, how are you?
Great!
So we're in our retail store right now, the bottom floor,
which is open to the public and anybody can come in and shop
and purchase these wonderful, rare pieces of vintage,
and then the second floor is a private showroom
that houses over a 150 years of important fashion.
Balenciaga, Halston, Schiaparelli, Fortuny, Worth,
really special, rare pieces that are museum caliber,
basically impossible to come by.
Downstairs, all these pieces are for sale.
Upstairs they're for rent.
Who shops up there?
Who's allowed up in the treasure trove?
We work with editors and stylists for industry use,
but we have a lot of our private clientele, celebrities
that will come up for fittings for various events as well.
What kind of celebrities?
Um, every kind. (laughs)
The A-list kind.
Do your dresses show up on the red carpet?
Oh all the time, absolutely, yeah.
And to see the clothing kind of take on a different life
is incredible.
To get an appointment upstairs, can anyone just walk in
or call you and get an appointment to go check it out?
It's not that easy. (laughs)
You have to have credentials.
Do you vet people?
We vet people.
Everyone is vetted before they have access
to the archive, absolutely.
Am I allowed up there?
Um, I'll let you have a peek. (laughs)
I'll give you a little guided tour.
(upbeat, rhythmic music)
Oh, look at this.
Ready to be inspired?
Uh-huh.
So over here we have an Adrian, this is 1930s.
He designed costumes for over 250 films
during Hollywood's Golden Era.
Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, and Garbo,
all of these ladies wore his gowns.
He's known for this silhouette, the bias 1930s dress.
These are corsets from the 1880s.
1880s?
Uh-huh, 1880s.
We have some examples of some McQueen headpieces.
Over here we have Gianni Versace.
Back here we have a bra that was worn by Lady Gaga.
I believe this was just for an editorial.
Just to wear, 'cause she's Lady Gaga, of course.
And by the way, this belonged to Josephine Baker,
so this bra is from the 1920s,
a lot of famous breasts were... (laughs)
At this rack.
Well at this rack (laughing)...
So this is the famous Sarah Jessica Parker,
"Sex and the City" bird.
(dramatic orchestra music)
Has anyone tried to buy this off of you?
I would say the most interesting solicitation was
from a Saudi princess who was buying up everything
from "Sex and the City" the film,
and offered a very large sum of money.
Of course we turned it down--
How large is large?
Six figures.
Oh, for this bird.
Yes for this little bird.
(slow, deep bass)
I've had some moments where I've realized the impact
we've had on the fashion industry.
I can share an experience a few years ago where I was
up in my showroom just working away.
I had my three children running around me
and I get a call on my cell phone from the White House,
"We'd like to put Michelle Obama in vintage."
Just never knowing what or who you're working with,
knowing that somehow you inspired someone to take an idea
and to run with it.
So you're hearing all this talk
about the retail apocalypse, retail is dying,
how is that affecting this business?
It's so scary, I've been here for almost 20 years
and I don't think that anybody on my block
is really standing since we first opened,
and I think that the reason why we haven't really
been impacted is because it is an experience
when you come here.
We've been asked by schools to have private tours,
we've opened our archive to students for research,
you just feel good coming in and you feel
like you've walked into a time capsule of fashion history.
(laughs) All in one place.