Clementine Vintage Clothing: Curated Attire
in Andes, NY
If you stand on the corner of Main Street and Route 28, under the only traffic light in the hamlet of Andes, you can easily see most of downtown. As the weather warms and the threat of frost becomes a distant memory, the streets will fill with locals and out-of-towners alike, who bob in and out of the antique shops and eateries that line the bucolic stretch. Just beyond the light, in what was once the Andes Post Office, sits Clementine Vintage Clothing, a staple in the small downtown and a mecca for anyone looking for the perfect vintage find.
For owner Misha Mayers, who hand selects each item of clothing for the store, vintage is less about showcasing a bygone era, and more about seeing how a new generation can make pieces feel fresh again. “I don’t buy something just because it’s vintage,” she explains, “I’m buying things that feel current and on trend. I also try to buy things that you want to wear, that you want to be comfortable in, and things that are suited for wearing up here in the Catskills.”
Misha calls the resulting aesthetic stylish country weekend and the consequent collection is a thoughtfully curated anthology in which 1950’s garden frocks live harmoniously alongside Betsy Johnson babydoll dresses, and cozy Pendletons share shelf space with velvet dusters. “I always think, is somebody I know going to wear this? Does it feel good? Does the fabric feel nice? You have to imagine that somebody is really going to want to wear this,” Misha says.
There are no wrinkles, no holes, and no snags at Clementine, and Misha makes a point to carry pieces made from natural fibers, a choice she says knocks out most of the seventies but fits her overall doctrine. To browse the racks of Clementine is to immediately feel that someone has put a great amount of care into not only each piece, but into the way they cohabitate with one another as a cohesive unit. Cashmere coats rest against army green flight suits, and bohemian sundresses nestle up to high waisted trousers, their unions bound not by the place or time from which they came, but by the life that their next owners will see in them.
Photos by Christian Harder, Words by Hannah Leighton