the Vault

The little known fact about Ellen Christine Millinery is that there's a vast selection of antique pieces available upon request.  With some notice, we can pull from our collection of thousands of articles of clothing, accessories and props for perusal.  Notice, because it's all warehoused, and not in the Chelsea store, and so the customer must put in a request for items they may need for props, gifts, or special occasions.

Vogue Magazine ran a mention of our collection, and other publications have mentioned various pieces they have seen in the shop from time to time, but it's an inhouse piece of knowledge.  Personal shoppers for celebrities know about us, and stylists from Conde Nast knows about us.  If you're paying attention to our sites and publicity, vintage is always in there somewhere, as inspiration, or actual items bought and worn out in the world by our vast customer base.

Since I've been involved in the vintage clothing business since 1971, well before this round of stylish shoppers was a blink in their parents' eye, I've seen the wide variety of what we called antique clothing from the start of the business.

Without going into the entire story (my friend Erika Kawalek is writing a book about it, so we'll leave that to her), suffice it to be said that I know what I'm talking about when I talk vintage.  That and the millions of credits toward my Doctorate at NYU have filled my background with a plethora of interesting facts about clothing and accessories.

So, when you innocently wander into the shop in Chelsea and see the hats out front, don't be surprised if there's a customer in the back room going through a selection of antique dresses brought in from the warehouse just for them.

Oh, and yes, you can ask for your very own appointment.