Helsinki Stresses Vintage Clothing Stores as Tourist Attraction

Vintage and second-hand fashion is popular in Helsinki. The city’s downtown neighborhoods of Punavuori, Kruunuhaka, Töölö and Kallio offer a wide range of vintage stores selling clothing, accessories, furniture and other decorative items.

The twice-yearly Helsinki Vintage Fair gathers close to 50 of Finland’s best vintage and second-hand dealers of decor to original vintage fashion items. Each fair features a fashion show, live retro music, an exhibition of vintage arcade games and a café. The next vintage fair is scheduled for Sept. 27 at Kaapelitehdas. Helsinki released a Vintage Fashion Shopping Guide online at www.helsinkivintage.fi.

Among the vintage stores in Helsinki are Vintage Babushka (www.vintagebabushka.com), which features vintage apparel and accessories; the Green Dress (www.thegreendress.fi) mixes high-quality vintage pieces, custom-designed clothes made of recycled materials and ethical fashion labels, plus stylist and handbag rental services; Ansa (www.vintageansa.blogspot.com) sells second-hand items from clothes to accessories with a specialty is children’s clothing; Helsinki 10 (www.helsinki10.com) offers trendy second-hand clothing suited to the season; Mekkomania (www.mekkomania.fi) offers carefully chosen dresses (mekka) from days past, particularly from Finnish designers, and also carries jewelry, shoes, gloves, bags and wedding dresses from the ‘70s; Play it again, Sam is the 32-year-old pioneer of Helsinki’s vintage boutiques, and features clothing, evening gowns, shoes, bags, hats, wigs, jewelry and corsets, with some items dating back to the 1800s; and Penny Lane Boutique (www.pennylane.fi) is owned and run by a former Miss Finland who worked as a flight attendant for over four decades.