The Ladybug’s Vintage Adventure in Berlin

Last Tuesday I told you about my trip to Berlin, but I deliberately didn’t mention my vintage tour of Berlin because this deserved a post of its own. I’ve heard many times that Berlin is the capital of vintage in Europe (a bit too risky a thought, lest we forget London?!) or at least in Germany, and I must admit that everything is vintage in Berlin. The vintage atmosphere is everywhere, there is something melancholically retro in the air that makes you breathe vintage from the very first moment your feet touch the ground! Vintage and second hand have their second home in Berlin for sure! I would have loved to have spent more time there to visit, for example, the huge Humana Vintage and Second hand store or many other shops that I easily found online, but my time was limited and in Germany Sundays are for relaxing and most of the shops are closed.

But I managed to find some interesting shops and tips for your quick weekend in Berlin.

First thing to do on Sunday morning (after a big brunch… Berlin is very famous for that!) is to head to Mauerpark: not only for the lovely quasi hipster area and for the nice park (wonderful if it happens on a sunny day, like when we were there!), but for the adorable Flea Market where you can find vintage clothing, antiques and collectable pieces along with handmade accessories and finger food! The Flohmarkt is very crowded on Sundays, but it is really worth a visit! I managed to find a vintage ’80s brooch (for 2 euros), two Prince vinyl records to add to my collection, a handmade wool headband (to keep my ears warm!) and a souvenir canvas bag of the market!

During my Saturday afternoon tour I tried to do my best to visit a couple of vintage shops which wasn’t easy, especially because they were all quite far from the city center.

I managed to visit the famous Sing Blackbird vintage shop, considered by many the best vintage shop in town with a nice cafeteria with handmade cakes inside just to have a quick tea and cake while shopping! The shop is very nice indeed with very beautiful pieces and honest prices… such a shame that the dresses and shirts that I fell in love with didn’t fit me!

Another crazy shop was Jumbo Second Hand, a must-see especially for the immensely huge, mind-blowing collection of vintage shoes! They have a great collection of vintage dresses too, and very affordable prices! But as it happens sometimes, there were so many great pieces that I couldn’t decide what should come home!

Last but not least maybe my favorite so far, Made in Berlin: two floors of vintage happiness and enthusiasm! Here again I got lost in their huge collection of shoes and bags and even more dresses and shirts at very honest prices. I took ten pieces (more not less) into my changing room, but again none of them fit me which left me very disappointed because the shop was worthy a massive buy! I will definitely go back on my next trip to Berlin, and I’m sure I’ll have my luck with sizing!

The Ladybug and Her Berlin Liebesgeschichte!

In my last post I told you about my long experience in Munich and about how great it was to live it… even if just for the weekends! And although I really enjoyed my time in Bavaria, my colleague and I decided to fly to Berlin for a little weekend since neither of us had been there before and we were both very curious.

It was a windy, freezing and quite snowy weekend, but this this didn’t prevent us from enjoying this amazing town!

I know, you are thinking that I was in vintage paradise, and I was indeed, but I will leave this part for the next post… today I just want to talk about Berlin!

It was such a special weekend: we walked a lot and tried to enjoy as many things as we could: from our first stop at Brandenburg Gate, to a long walk to see the famous Victory Column, Potsdamer Platz, a guided tour through the German Parliament (the Bundestag), the touristic Checkpoint Charlie, a long walk along the Eastside Gallery (enjoying the street art in the longest part remaining from the Wall), the Jewish Memorial, the Fernsehturm and the beautiful Cathedral- our day was quite busy. We just had a quick stop in a lovely Thai and Vietnamese restaurant near Checkpoint Charlie to recharge the batteries and warm our cold feet before going back to our busy tour! As you can imagine, we didn’t enjoy the Berlin’s night as much as we intended to! (if I’m not wrong, we fell dead in our bed at 9:30pm!)

But the atmosphere of this sad yet modern and vital town is incredible and I didn’t believe it until I visited it myself! There is this space for the past, to remember, to keep the memory alive that contrasts often with the modernity and of the future towards which the city is going.

Walking along the wall was also a sad experience: although the street art is amazing (Bansky and other great street artist have made their artistic home all around the town), it is impossible not to think of how life was until just 25 years ago.

These are my favorites of the pics I took there to share with you.

On my first day I wore my inseparable Woolrich parka and Ugg boots, Acne Studios jeans, Dixie beige sweater, Max& Co bag and Madame Ilary handmade black turban.

More about Berlin and our vintage tour next time!

 

Soul Sunday with KNAGUI: Taking a Bite Out of the Ladybug’s “Big Apple”

“New York, New York big city of dreams, but everything in New York ain’t always what it seems. You might be fooled if you come from outta town, but I’m down by law- I know my way around.”  These lyrics by Grand Master Flash hit my mind often; especially when I touch down in New York, but when I visited the City in April I was introduced to another facet… New York Vintage.

My trips to New York are always the same: meeting in high story offices with incredible views, bagel run at H&H Bagels on the Upper West Side, Chinese at my favorite spot in Chinatown and a short visit with family.  This trip wasn’t to much different (H&H closed in January-sniff, sniff), but there was an added purpose.  The Ladybug had planned a trip the following month and asked me to visit and stake out some spots to know if they were still there and/or with her time.  You see, we wanted to be there together and show each other “our New York,” but it couldn’t happen- so we opted to do a check list with photo sharing.

One of the shops I stopped by was L Train Vintage.  The Ladybug has shown you the great pieces she picked up there, but I thought I might deviate from my norm and share with you my “virgin vintage” find.

As quiet as it’s kept, I’m a pretty good shopper.  I was raised shopping around with my aunts.  That might be where my “eye” comes from.  I’m not “into” fashion, so I don’t know what to call these pants, but I instantly loved them.

When I bought them I was super excited!!! Now don’t get me wrong- I didn’t some thrifting and retro wearing when I was in college, but this was different. The purpose around the purchase was vintage and I felt like I’m finally inside this world I correspond with.

I have to admit, I enjoyed the flavor of the Ladybug’s Big Apple and I couldn’t wait to tell her about my find, but I severely downplayed it and told her that I’d show them to her when I got to Italy.  Little did she know, she’d soon be my photographer and I her model.

So I’m seen here in my vintage pants by Thomson, paired with a Jack and Jones T-shirt I picked up in Berlin.  My accessories: Belt by Trussardi, a music bracelet that was a gift from a fellow musician I did a clinic with in May, charm bracelet is by Axcent with charms I’ve acquired over the years, pearl by MiMi and watch by Pryngeps. Finally the shoes are Bed Stü… I picked them up in a shop called Shoegasm near Canal.

The pants really worked out well. I only needed to have the hem lowered. One funny thing is the number size of the waist- 40… much larger than what I wear, but I guess that’s what that vanity sizing in today fashion is all about.

The Ladybug and I had fun doing this shoot.  I did a few Zoolander poses, but they were too awful to post.

Hope you like what you see.  And if you dig the photography, let her know!

See you “Next Sunday!”