Why Vintage?

Why would anyone want to wear vintage clothing? First of all, it's fun! When you wear vintage, you stand out from the crowd. The chances of someone else wearing the same exact outfit to that special event are slim to none. More and more high school girls are shopping vintage for dances and proms because it guarantees originality. You can wear vintage just to add a little something authentically retro to your clothing and not look the same as everyone else, which is difficult in style-conscious K.L

Vintage clothing is also nostalgic. Wearing vintage gives a girl the chance to experience a small part of history. In today's ambiguous world, it feels nice to pull on a crinoline and full feminine skirt once in a while. Let's face it: grown-up girls like to play dress up, too!

For the thrifty, the prices on vintage items should be incentive enough. Local thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales are excellent sources of old clothing at unbelievable prices. Broke? Go volunteer to help clean out Mom's closet!

When shopping for vintage clothing online, we recommend that first-time buyers be aware of what it means to buy and wear vintage clothing. It's not like something new and fresh from the boutique, it's going to feel different and smell differently (there is no "new" clothing smell) and the items do need to be treated a little more carefully. Online shoppers should always ask questions up front about the garments, especially if they are unsure of the size or condition. When shopping vintage online, be sure to read the site's terms of sales, ordering procedure, and return policy before ordering

Vintage clothing can be teamed up with modern apparel or mixed and matched with other vintage pieces. Some find that wearing head to toe vintage is just not practical in day to day life, but by adding a few pieces one can create a look that is uniquely their own.

There you have it: vintage clothes are fun, affordable, and enable the wearer to create and maintain an original look. So what are you waiting for? Go shopping!

Excellent vintage pieces at affordable prices can be found at http://vintagebiribiri.blogspot.com

What is Vintage Clothing?

Vintage clothing is a generic term for new or second hand garments originating from a previous era.

Generally speaking, clothing which was produced before the 1920s is referred to as antique clothing and clothing from the 1920s to 1980 is considered vintage.

Most vintage clothing has been previously worn, but a small percentage of pieces have not. These are often old warehouse, or shop stock. These items are usually referred to by dealers as "dead stock", "old stock" or "new-old stock" and can be more sought after and more valuable than those that have been worn, especially if they have their original tags.

Although there has always been some demand for old and/or second hand clothing, the awareness, demand and acceptance of this has increased dramatically since the early 1990s.

This increase in interest is due in part to increased visibility, as vintage clothing was increasingly worn by celebrities, e.g. Julia Roberts, Chloe Sevigny, Kate Moss, and Dita von Teese.

Julia Roberts wearing vintage Valentino gown to the Oscars
Picture credited to www.watoday.com.au


Fashion icon Chloe Sevigny
Pictures credited to http://style.la-mimi.com

There has also been an increasing interest in environmental sustainability in terms of reusing, recycling and repairing rather than throwing things away. A resurgence of historically based sub-cultural groups like rockabilly and swing dancing has also played a part in the increase in interest in vintage clothes.

Other reasons that some people are attracted to vintage clothing include:

* Unique or almost unique: most items were custom made, and others were manufactured in small quantities only.
* Good quality: they were designed to be worn for years and passed on to other family members, so they were made of robust materials, well cut and well made, with generous seam allowances and hems which allow for alterations and custom fit.
* Fine materials: many of the unusual older fabric types are no longer manufactured, or are now prohibitively expensive.
* Value for money: garments generally sell for a cost far below similar new modern garments.
* History: an appreciation of the past, the roles of previous generations and the skills of respected designers.
* Detailing: hand finishing, unusual buttons, hand embroidery, handmade lace, crochet, applique, beading and other techniques.
* Style: vintage clothing has traditionally been the favourite of creative personalities because it offers an enormously wide range of imaginative styles.
* Investment: some people buy to collect rather than to wear, and increasingly, good quality vintage garments especially items by well-known designers are sought after by collectors.

At times, the cycle of fashion design turns to history for inspiration, and garments closely resembling original vintage (retro or antique) clothing are manufactured. An example of this is the simple slip dresses that emerged in the early 1990s and were based on undergarments of the 1930s. These styles are generally referred to as "vintage inspired" or "vintage reproductions" depending on the faithfulness to the historical design, and serve as a convenient alternative to those who admire an old style but prefer a modern interpretation - another advantage is that, unlike the original garments, they are usually available in a range of sizes and perhaps, colours and/or fabrics.

Some things to consider include sizing (many old garments were custom made and won't include sizing labels, or if they do, the old systems of sizing often differ from modern ones), condition (check quality of fabric, seams for stitching required, buttons that need replacing, hems down or need altering), cleaning requirements (a good vintage trader will be able to advise you in this regard), stains (and, more importantly, likely success in removal) and correct storage (for example, it is inadvisable to hang a beaded 1920s evening gown as the weight of the beads will weaken or tear the delicate silk).

Come visit us at our offline base! :)

It's been over 8 months since we've started this wonderful and exciting journey of running our own online store and some of you might be wondering where exactly do we keep all those dresses that we've been posting. You may have heard that we have an offline store and that's true, we do have a secret place where we stash all our thrifted goodies. And now we are opening up the store for your viewing pleasure :)

Our offline base/showroom is located along Old Klang Road and only 10 mins from MidValley or Sunway Pyramid. Here is where we keep all the remaining unsold items, ones that will be posted on the blogstore and ones that we're never going to post online cos they are just too pretty to sell.

There are hundreds and hundreds of vintage dresses in all these different styles, patterns, prints, colors and sizes, hanging in our store. You are welcome to drop by to come try them on and play dress-up. So if you've been eyeing that blue dress that's still available on our blog but are a tad worried how it will look on you, do make a date with us and come over to try it on first. Provided you don't get distracted by all the other items :P



Since it's not exactly a retail boutique and we can't guarantee we'll be there 24/7, we've decided that it's best that all visits are by appointment only. If you're interested to visit us, do drop us an email at vintagebiribiri@gmail.com to make an appointment today :)

Address: 41-1B, OG Business Park, Jalan Taman Tan Yew Lai, 58200 KL
View map here!

Welcome to our official blog!

Welcome to biri-biri's blog! :) If you are reading this right now, chances are you have curiously clicked on the blog link from the store to read what the biri-biri has to say :)

This blog has been set up mainly to promote our items and to talk about random, mostly things we find beautiful or fascinating. Could be fashion (well we hope to stick to vintage of course, though any trend that catches our fancy will do!), beauty, health or even gossip. Hey, not going to draw the line this early on. Will play by ear alright?

As you've probably noticed, the blogstore is currently devoid of those interrupting sold items. We have finally gotten around to spring-cleaning the blogstore by separating the (many had deemed as annoying) sold items from the still available ones for the viewing pleasure of our esteemed shoppers. It was a tedious but necessary process as all the unsold stuff were getting backed up in the older pages (which nobody bothers to click on!).

Considering virtual cobwebs were on the verge of forming on those poor items, we figured it was about time we did something! We're almost done now, just got to post the links for the sold galleries up soon.


In our most recent post, we have again posted some delectable polka dotted dresses, our third installment so far.

We dare say that polka dots never go out of style. And while the rest of the once-trendy patterns faded into obscurity, it is evident people never got tired of polka dots. Need we remind you of the once famous song on a certain piece of swimwear bearing this print?

You see them everywhere from the hottest runway to your favorite aunt's apron. And they're not going away anytime soon.

First made popular on the famous tv comedy I Love Lucy back in the 50's, the polka dot dress is still a hit today. We've seen it from Gucci to Gianni Versace.

A common favorite we all agree on is obviously the white polka on black print, but if you are getting a little bored of the usual, there a myriad of color combinations to be found these days. Though we have to say if you don't wish to venture too far, you can always opt for white on dark navy to still achieve that classy look.

Here are some of our coveted albeit sold 80's polka dot dresses:


One can imagine feeling absolutely charming in any of these pretty dresses! They will prove to be a sound investment in years to come, just like sweaters :)

There are still some polka babies available so hop on over back to the blogstore to check them out, follow these links for quicker access:

1. Polka Union 3
2. Return of the Polkas
3. Polka Union

And if you'd like to check out the ones that are no longer available (ie. what you've missed out on), you can click here :)