Home is where the vintage store is
What makes a place a home and the magic of that one trip that changes your life.
I always sought out a place that was just mine. A space made so perfectly for me, I could call it my own without any guilt.
Growing up, my family moved houses quite a bit. I’ve come to believe that’s what later on caused me to dream of living in a million different places, in constant movement. It started with living in LA, because that’s where the Jonas Brothers were. Later, New York, since that’s where I was told fashion came from. Far from home meant “good” in my eyes.
I always thought “home” would mean “away” because I could never really find it standing still.
In college, I set myself a dream of attending Copenhagen Fashion Week. I’d heard of Denmark, it just always sounded too far and scary. Although “far” or “scary” never stopped me before. Copenhagen seemed impossible without a stable job, a 19 year old mind, and not enough clothes.
At 24, I landed at the Kastrup airport and instantly decided: this is my home. As away from home as I could get, I had found my place on earth, and I didn’t need to explore it at great lengths to confirm what my heart and the goosebumps all over my body already knew. It was a feeling that I’m unable to describe in coherent words to this day.
At the end of my first visit to Copenhagen, I set myself another goal: to go back, and this time, stay for longer. I let myself imagine this was my forever. I went back in August of 2023 and stayed through September, that’s when I found Strand32.
The streets were empty in the Old Town of Copenhagen, but I heard music playing close by and automatically assumed I’d like whoever I found playing it. I peeped inside and found the long, white haired owner, with more sense of style than anybody I’d met during fashion week (heavy on the no shade, she truly is the most mesmerizing person), and I’m including myself in that statement.
I browsed, saw a lot of vintage Chanel shoes, drooled over a Comme Des Garçon coat, and melted over the the Issey Miyake rack, which stands right at the middle of the store, mirroring the tower of vintage sunglasses.
“Never been more at home than I am right now,” I whispered to myself while holding back tears. I am a pisces, for anybody wondering.
The sight of Vivienne Westwood, Maison Margiela, Ann Demuelemeester, and other favorites could make a grown man cry, or in this case, a very very emotional grown woman. What really interested me, though, was the very in depth conversations I had with the owner — Brands Vs Designers, The Copenhagen Fashion Scene, Wanting to Move To and From a City, and everything in between.
When it came time for me to leave the store, I had nothing in my hands. That would have felt like a relief in any other occasion or at any other place, but this time I simply had been to afraid to ask for the price of the Gucci sunglasses I spotted when I first walked in. Light-colored tortoise, squared oversized body, golden brown gradient lenses, and the cursive Gucci logo that according to the Vintage Fashion Guild started being used in the 70s for apparel.
I built up the courage to ask… and then I spent at least 30 more minutes speaking with the owner about all the sunglasses I had tried on trying to figure out the perfect shape for me before I stopped there.
Bought them, loved them, wore them. Still wear them.
I went back a couple more times before my trip was over. The last time I visited during my stay I made my first Issey Miyake purchase, a burgundy palazzo from the Pleats Please line. I had debated between a Vivienne Westwood blouse I knew I wouldn’t wear once the novelty wore off, and the pants. After being told they were JDM, thinking about the tops I already owned that went perfectly with burgundy bottoms, and realizing the lack of pants inside my wardrobe, I, of course, went for the Issey Miyake Pleats Please palazzos.
I haven’t regretted my choice a full year later.
As soon as my time in Denmark concluded, I found myself booking another ticket back home. This time, home meant Copenhagen. Home’s where the vintage store is.
There I made friends I speak to on a weekly basis, I found that my workflow is easier to follow, my heart is at peace, I get to cold plunge on an actual Danish harbor… and as if that wasn’t enough, my astrocartography says that my MC line, which is connected to career paths, passes right though the center of the city. That is home, even if not physically. Even if not right now.
In February of this year, my early birthday gift to myself was to go back. My first stop? Strand32. I stood there for about two hours, listening, speaking, debating with the owner about different brands, and telling each other stories about why we love clothes.
Home. With a capital letter.
I left with my second Issey Miyake purchase that day, and a very full heart.
Home, that’s where the vintage store is.