Vintage Shopping in Paris

Friperie is the French word for the shops that sell second-hand clothing: the name includes high-end vintage shops with designer clothes and accessories where every piece has been preselected, but also previously loved not-designer clothes that are an eye-candy for vintage lovers.

If you are in Paris just for a short trip of pleasure, you'll have your days full of standing in the lines of Tour Eiffel and Louvre Museum. So I thought of preparing a list of vintage shops which are all based in the same area. In this way vintage shopping will take away  just half a day from your busy tourist schedule. 

The area that I'm talking about is found around the Hôtel de Ville Metro. So after you do your Parisian vintage shopping you can visit the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral which is just 5min walk from this metro station.

1.) Free’p’Star 8 Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie & 61 rue de la Verrerie, 4th, Metro Hôtel de Ville

Free’p’Star has a huge selection. To find that perfect piece you are looking for you need to search between thousands of garnments. Not everything in here is spectacular as there is no preselection by the shop owners. The search here is like 'treasure hunting' as you might find a Haute Coture dress or a jeans overalls. The most amazing bags can be found on a glass wall behind the cashier. Unfortunately they are not for sale, but just to be looked at. 'Hello vintage Chanel!!!'

2.) Frip’irium 2 rue de la Verrerie, 4th, Metro Hôtel de Ville

A classic friperie with different treasures. I particularly loved the selection of dresses and fur coats. This is a shop for real vintage lovers, with amazing dresses from the 70s and 80s. The style is pure French, so expect a lot of bon-ton pieces.

3.) Mam’zelleSwing 35 bis rue du Roi de Sicile, 4th, Metro Hôtel de Ville

This a unique vintage shop. When you get inside, you get the feeling of entering the personal walk-in closet of the owner  Miss Bérénice. She is a bargains hunter and vintage collector who has designed the shop herself. Inside you can find vintage pieces from many decades up to the 60s. Have a talk with  Bérénice and you'll get to know more about the history of each cloth. 

4) Come On Eileen 44 rue Rivoli, 4th, Metro Hôtel de Ville

3 floors of vintage. Here you can get lost for hours. Loved the collection of hats and sunglasses. You can find everything you are looking for. Louis Vuitton bags, Saint Laurent Paris dresses and pantsuits, also a lot of Mugler. The first floor has an incredible collection of evening dresses. I spent 1 hour checking every vintage evening dress and there were great couture pieces. The only problem is that you would need a red carpet occasion to wear some of the vintage couture dresses that can be found in this vintage shop. The prices are high for designer pieces. A YSL dress costs up to €800. There is also a great collection of designer shoes, but I've never felt comfortable buying previously owned shoes. 

5) Vintage Bar 35 du Roi de Sicile, 4th, Metro Hôtel de Ville

Chanel, Hermes and Dior bags is what you are looking for? The Vintage Bar is the place. The store has only designer bags, shoes and accessories. The prices of the bags can be even higher than the store prices. You are getting a unique Chanel piece so expect to pay up to €4000. For Hermes bags ...NO COMMENT. A lot of Chanel accessories are availble also at high prices. The shop sells ony pre-selected pieces, meaning that the shop owners do the vintage hunt work. For shoe lovers you can find Louboutin, Dior, YSL and more.

There are other Vintage shops in Paris. Here I made just a list of the ones that are found close to each other in the same area, few steps from Notre Dame. My list goes on and on, next time I'm Paris I'll keep looking for more vintage shops and I'll share them with you.

Posted in: Paris,SHOPPING TIPS,The Dolls Factory,TRAVELS,Vintage