Are all the good vintage duds at your local thrift store gone?   Fear not, soon you’ll have a whole new decade to reference and pick through.   Now a mere 11 years into the history books, a fresh movement is afoot to declare the venerable 1990’s, “vintage.” 

Are we ready to ascribe the likes of Nirvana,  Pearl Jam, Wayne’s World, and the Spice Girls,  to the venerable “Vintage” label?  Or is that wine just too young to take from the barrel?  Would our Eat My Shorts T-shirts not benefit from a few more years in the closet, taking up the subtle aromatic nuances of the moth ball.

The British department store Selfridges is boldly leading the charge to say, “Damn Skippy, the 90s are Vintage!”

The concept store, The 90s Are Vintage, (running Jan. 11th – 29th only) will commemorate that fly decade in Selfridge’s history with some in-store highlights that are downright dope:

• Rellik presents essential designerwear and accessories, including Jean Paul Gaultier, Azzedine Alaia, Vivienne
Westwood and Comme Des Garcons
• Beyond Retro present the authentic 90s uniform
• IDEA present their edit of the 90s most seminal style publications
• Francois Nars exclusively presents his book, 15×15
• M.A.C presents key 90s looks, including the iconic Spice lipliner and Twig lipstick
• H.M.V presents the top 50 films of the 90s
• Other Criteria present an exclusive YBA collection, including Damian Hirst’s iconic spots
• Dalston’s original 90s night “Work It” present their soundtrack to the era with DJs in store

 What do you think? Are we ready for this comeback? Are these looks dank or what?

Kevin Caruth of Urban Gentry was showing me around Shoreditch and Brick Lane in East London last week.  We were checking out a few indie shops in on Cheshire street, when I spotted that robotic sprite from Forbidden Planet, Robby, in a shop Window display.

I found to my surprise, a whole store dedicated to Vintage robots.  Drop your old comodore 64 game codebook and Atari T-shirt into the trash can, because this is old school nerdery at its finest. I was planning on writing something up about it, but then owner John Kelly sent me an email describing his store and ethos.  I was,  too say the least, simply charmed.  Consequently, I’m just going to pass it straight along unedited.  (Sorry for the long quote Jeremy – somethings just speak for themselves).

THUS spake John Kelly:

“My shop is really called THUS but everyone knows it as the Robot Shop, principally because it mostly sells clockwork robots and selected tin toys. Apart from possibly the largest selection of tin robots, all working and all perfect replicas of original robots, made in the same Japanese factories as the originals, now transplanted to China, I sell clockwork mice, snapping crocodiles, pecking roosters, bluebirds and hopping frogs, all at remarkably cheap prices. The most expensive item – an original Matmos Lava Lamp, is £55.00.

A warm welcome and good conversation is free. The shop looks like a comfortable if eccentric living room, with rare kilims, wooden floors, Balinese dance masks and glass and chrome cube cabinets, straight out of the 1950s. I keep shop because I like people even more than robots. My son, Ned, helps on Saturdays because he likes girls. We both like New Orleans funk, so you’re likely to hear that stuff in the shop: no bad thing.

We play it as it lays. The shop sign proclaims ‘Open at Random (It’s true – it was closed when I was there), but invariably 1-5 pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Some people are saying it’s one of the coolest shops in Shoreditch. That’s very nice to hear, since it’s entirely accidental and I’m very, very lazy. I just like to see people enjoy themselves. Honest.”

You can find THUS (the Robot Shop) at:
20 Cheshire St
London E2 6EH
0797 4155031

PS – Bonus points to anyone who can identify all the bots in the picture.