86 Vintage – Lil Sis Boutique Grows Up
Published in California Apparel News, August 11, 2005
Strolling into 86 Vintage is like a tour of the dream wardrobe of Imitation of Christ’s Tara Subkoff when she was but a twenty-something-year-old kid: vintage summer frocks monopolize hangers, and space between them is sprinkled with reconstructed skirts, blouses, and dresses and deconstructed rocker tees. 70′s snakeskin purses and 60′s tooled leather bags decorate walls, while mod, cowboy, and biker boots are neatly scattered about. Vintage belts and buckles are on display, along with cowboy hats and feathered earrings; each accessory and every piece of clothing is playfully shown off to delight potential wearers.
Nestled in La Brea’s antique row, next-door neighbor to its parent company Rock and Rodeo, four-year-old 86 Vintage is finally coming into its own. What began as an outlet for Rock and Rodeo’s less collectible vintage – “It was a fine selection, only a little less focused than it was now, with both men’s and women’s clothing,” explains co-owner Robin Fauser – has blossomed into a buzz-worthy boutique that offers a fingerprint-unique collection of fresh vintage gear and growing selection of local designer works for women.
“86 was opened with the idea that there was something for anybody – we wanted to offer a wide variety and low price points to the public,” says Fauser, and though the store was recently turned to all girls’ gear, it continues in this spirit. Unlike appointment-only Rock and Rodeo, which plays home to rare antique denim, highly collectible concert tees, and vintage couture easily garnering tens of thousands of dollars, price tags at open-seven-days-a-week 86 Vintage never top three-digits.
Still, the boutiques share more than co-founders and the northwest corner of La Brea and 6th. Though buying for 86 Vintage is geared towards catering to current trends in young womenswear (versus Rock and Rodeo’s constant hunt for singular pieces of rock couture), both retailers are built on carefully hand-selected collections, and – despite their passionate regard for vintage – stand ready to dismantle decades of design. “At Rock and Rodeo, sometimes clients will have us completely redesign a piece for them. We brought this service to 86 Vintage, and recently began turning dresses into fresher skirts, or trimming button-down shirts into halter tops,” says Fauser’s partner, Mary Ossanna. These 86 Vintage originals hang ready to wear, and if any jeans, tees, and boots a buyer favors can’t be worn right off the rack, let someone at 86 know – following in the steps of Rock and Rodeo, 86 Vintage will gladly tailor clothes to fit and “give a great pair of leather boots a little stretch for the perfect size,” says Fauser.
With service like this, it’s no surprise that within the weeks that 86 Vintage went womenswear-only it’s become a regular stop for girls and their friends to pick up the latest, truly one-of-a-kind looks. According to Ossanna, one 86 Vintage original was put on the racks to be sold less than thirty minutes later, turning 86′s diner-slang namesake into somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy: “To ’86′ something means that it’s no longer available,” explains Ossanna. “For example, if a restaurant special was salmon and they ran out of it, they would post ’86′ on the salmon. We applied 86 to vintage clothing because once an item is purchased it can’t be replaced.”
Better giddy-up, ladies.
