Fall Guide: Karen O's Style Guru Takes Us Shopping

Cruising Williamsburg with Christiane Joy Hultquist

Comments (0) By Angela Ashman Wednesday, Sep 1 2010

Hultquist spends very little money on her own wardrobe because she’s willing to put in hours hunting down treasures at thrift stores, flea markets, and dollar stores (she frequents the row on Manhattan Avenue between Nassau and Greenpoint avenues in Brooklyn). In fact, the cream open-toe oxfords she’s wearing cost $7 at a sidewalk sale (“They were originally $220 at Anthropologie”) and her white silk dress was $10 at the vintage warehouse Vice Versa (241 Bedford Avenue, 718-782-3882), the last stop on our tour.

At the back of Vice Versa, she lingers over the military jumpsuits for $20, but none of them have enough zippers for her taste (her fall When I Want You in the Night line will be heavy on pea-green military-style shirts and jackets). Continuing through the racks, she cringes a little every time her hand touches polyester. “The world’s worst fabric,” she says.

Jane Bruce

Hultquist sorts out Williamsburg.

Details

FALL GUIDE 2010
Music: Interpol Return With Their First Record in Three Years
Dance: Ken Swift Gets the Upscale Treatment
Theater: The Tricycle Theatre Invades With Its Epic History of Afghanistan
Books: Matthew Vincent Explains How It All Went So Freakin' Wrong
Dining: Let Burning Lumber Do the Cooking
Art: Ingrid Calame Finds Beauty in the Grime
Film: Oliver Stone Issues the Initial Public Offering of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

More About

Finally, she finds something exciting: a gaudy black silk gown covered in fuchsia and green sequins. “It’s like some grandmother’s dress that she wore to Vegas,” Hultquist says—and, apparently, this is a good thing, because she ponders buying it for $20. But the clothing archaeologist, in a rare moment of practicality, puts it back with a sigh: “I always end up with stuff like that, and I never, ever wear it.”