Vintage Shopping in Malasana

After visiting the Rastro on Sunday (see earlier post), I decided to explore more of Madrid's vintage clothing scene.  I did some light research on the inter-webs and noted that Malasana was the district to check out for vintage shopping.

On the walk to the Malasana, I passed through Gran Via where hundreds of protestors had gathered for a march to speak out against austerity measures/budget cuts.   I assume this because their signs had an image of a pair of scissors with an X through it.

Calle de Velarde is the main street for vintage shopping in the Malasana.  There are four or five shops on this block.  

A vintage store on Calle de Velarde aptly named Williamsburg with an image of the Williamsburg Bridge in the logo. They were playing Nina Simone, and I bought a silk scarf there for 4 euro.

This Dooney and Bourke handbag was priced at 30 euro but easily could have been sold at a flea market in NYC for the equivalent of 100 euro.

The interior of Magpie Vintage where I bought a red turban for 5 euro. They had an impressive collection of jean cutoffs...

Madrid's Famed Flea Market

Today we headed to the La Latina district for the Rastro, Madrid's Sunday Flea Market. On the outset, it seems like any generic street fair with t shirts and cheap handbags, but when you move past the tourist area into the real flea market, you find a plaza with 30 or so booths with piles of discarded, used clothing. The venders are all yelling out to draw shoppers to their mounds of mostly heinous clothing. Pretty much every item goes for a euro. It is mostly locals pouring through the piles of over washed Zara discards, stained dress shirts, and polyester high rise trousers. You could even purchase a used Flemenco dress.

I loved it. I scored a black poly-nylon blend sleeveless with black lace over the front and an over sized black with Victorian floral pattern dress shirt (the brand was "Grandma".) I paid a euro for each.