Fleaaaaaaing Inside

I quite often ponder the "What did we do before the Google/Twitter/Facebook era?" more so than the "What did we do before mobile phones?".  I do it so often that I then get a 100 % genuine tingly shiver going up my spine at the thought of the world existing without Google.  Banish the mere thought!  For example, all I did was put out a simple question on my very responsive Twitter "Is Hell's Kitchen Flea worth the trek?" and two kind souls Tweeted back pronto that it's a load of tosh and told me to head to Brooklyn Flea instead.  So off I went on Sunday expecting an actual street flea… (err… because I didn't have my journalist's cap on and forgot to read the all-important About page…) and instead found an indoor market inside the beautiful Williamsburg Savings Bank.  If my bank looked like this, I might be more keen on getting friendly with my Natwest dude and probing him about my lack of understanding of the concept of savings.

That said, a beautiful indoors setting with official stalls (mostly legitimate shops, small independent labels, artisans, craftsmen etc that set up stalls here on Sundays…) means that it isn't one of those places where I might hap upon a $1 dress.  Silly me for thinking that those sorts of deals still exist in the vicinity of a cosmopolitan city.  No bother.  I'm up for mid-brow vintage/antique browsing too…   

And so, unlike random street fleas, hawking anyone and anything, this stall owner (I forgot to ask the name but I'm pretty sure it's one of the vendors who doesn't have a website…) was very knowledgeable pointing out the designer, origin and era of everything.  This plaid and paisley dress is surprisingly a Pierre Cardin piece… I'm thinking it's some sort of liberal licensing thing…

I haggled this Mexican, 70s cape down from $75 to $50… I love that the flecked wool looks like a worn-out denim shade and the fact it's not too heavy for a vintage cape…

Two rather ungainly photos that don't adhere to my Monday bloggerisms alas… without the security blanket of my balcony and my boyfriend, I'm indeed a lost soul… that, and I have no clothes with me… I dub these Uniqlo trousers my emergency trews…

The back is spectacular too… I really hate it when motifs/patterns aren't extended to the back… afterall, we're in view from all angles, no?  Unless, we are 2D cartoon characters and I didn't know it…

At another knowledgeable stall, I spied this boxy bag printed with a pattern that really reminds me of a sofa we had when I was living with my parents…  I did think it was sort of wrong to be buying something on the basis of this nostalgia given that I really hated that wretched sofa…

I had a spent a good chunk of time at this stal, Nenenn 155.  They sell a really good selection of vintage shoes and bags and I devoted quite a bit of time to trying on these Michael Kors shearling camel leather boots that were going for $80 (I got them down to $60…) because they had some kind of an internal fleecy sock inside that's supposed to help you get your feet in but actually made things more tricky.  Good thing I did spend some time there as I had a good bit of banter with the owners who kept on insisting "I like you!  You're smart!  I like that".  Yes, I know it's probably the English accent that threw them but I'm such a sucker for the 'smart' compliment.  Jeers of "Hey Leng Lui (pretty girl in Cantonese)" in a Hong Kong street market don't really do it for me.  Call me 'smart' however and I'll be handing over some cash.  Idiotic, yes.  I know it's about to be sweltering and having my legs being encased in a pair of shearling boots isn't exactly on the summer agenda but I thought I'd be smart about the whole boot-buying situation and just pick up these fairly affordable ones to get the ball rolling.  The skies will probably send down some freak heat-wave during winter, won't they?

I also loved that the owners were bloggers too and the photo to the left is actually their Photoshop handiwork that they put on their blog illustrating customers' buys.  So I didn't have to hide my somewhat sneaky/suspicious-looking picture taking… imagine the day when blogging is universally understood and I'll be pondering a similar question to the Google/mobile thing… "What did we do before everyone was down with blogging?"