I first did it around 1970, in Boston. My mother knew about it and was mortified. My grandmother found out and nearly fainted. Fortunately, my father was oblivious. Every once in a while I still do it, just for fun. I still get psyched every once in a while, before a big party or a wedding when I need a little excitement.
My first time was in Kenmore Square, in a funky loft upstairs where with a little babysitting cash I could pretend I was in Haight-Ashbury or the Village, instead of eighth grade. I was hooked.
That first purchase was a pair of Levi's, Big E 501's to anyone who appreciates that, so mellow and broken in they felt like suede. Then came a gorgeous velvet riding jacket. A pinstriped men's vest with a satin back. Cotton pique-bibbed tuxedo shirts. Flannel cowboy shirts with snaps. Big chunky leather peep-toe shoes from the 1940s. A vintage kimono, a Bakelite rhinestone bracelet. An alligator clutch. A fur stole complete with beady little eyes and teeth. Satin full-slips in dreamy shades of pink and aqua. An occasional army jacket, but Vietnam was still nightly news and those felt a little too real. Thirteen-button sailor pants. The only sailor I knew of was Pop-Eye, so the pants I could easily romanticize. My mother gagged. "How can you wear someone else's clothes?" "How do you know where it's been," my grandmother chimed in regularly. "They could have crabs." They didn't, and I didn't, and I never heard of anyone contracting crabs that way.
That first pair of Levi's in Kenmore Square? Starting bid is $300.00 on EBay.
