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Berlin’s best vintage: 1960s-1970s

Fringed suede, floral peasant dresses, GDR Olympic dancing skirts: from mod to détente, these shops will leave you feelin’ groovy and dressed for the revolution.

Image for Berlin's best vintage: 1960s-1970s
Photo by Maia Schoenfelder

Fringed suede, floral peasant dresses, GDR Olympic dancing skirts: from mod to détente, these shops will leave you feelin’ groovy and dressed for the revolution.

Veist €€€

New to the vintage scene, Veist isn’t the most affordable, but the shop works mostly off of consignment, which produces a varied, impressive collection filled with pieces from Belgium, Italy, Austria, America and Germany.

The white-walled minimalist cube of a shop brings you Texan-style embellished belts (€48), an amazing Milanese patchwork jacket (€220) and a long pleated GDR Olympic dancing skirt in a light peach colour – just to name a few.

Veist feels refreshingly different from other stores hawking similar garb: it’s smallness gives it the feel of a carefully curated assemblage rather than someone’s entire vintage collection.

Selchower Str. 32, Neukölln. U-Bhf Boddinstr., Mon-Fri 14-20.

Alex Vintage €€

Walk down the stairs into the basement shop and be greeted by an organised and vast selection of clothing from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Most of the clothes are sourced from England and Scandinavia and are in good and original condition.

Expect to find the requisite colourful track suit jackets and bizarrely patterned 1960s-wallpaper- reminiscent button-downs (€25), but be excited to know that Alex is also a hidden mecca for things like old work jackets (think Barbour-style, €15-35), wool sweater vests (€10-25) and tribal-patterned everything.

Although it may not be the place to find perfect-condition shoes and jewellery, you will walk away with your wardrobe happily enhanced, and your wallet not completely drained.

Rosa-Luxemburg Str. 17, Mitte, U-Bhf Weinmeisterstr., Mon-Sat 12-20

Humana Vintage €€

We’ve all been there – Humana, the shop that looks like a charity but isn’t one, can be found in nearly every Berlin neighbourhood. But this one, located in Prenzl’Berg is much smaller than most and has a collection that was separated from its second-hand counterparts without upping the prices.

The front room sports women’s wear while the back has a selection for men.

The vintage that comes through Humana is generally fairly local – expect to find massive amounts of Nordic and Fair Isle patterns (sweaters €15-30, shirts €10-25), along with the less expected rack of colourful ski suits (€20-50) and a few Scandinavian designer pieces thrown in (dresses €20-40). A collarless off-white buttondown shirt adorned with big black polka dots (€25) was one of the many gems here, but don’t take your eyes off the prize: when we turned to look at the fur coats (€40-70) and came back, it was gone.

Eberswalder Str. 27, Prenzlauer Berg, U-Bhf Eberswalder Str. Mon-Sat 10-20

Ohne Frage Toll €€€

The entire personal vintage collection of Marita Schwalm makes up the stock in Mitte’s OFT, where the policy of selling “eccentric originals” adheres not only to clothing and accessories – fringed suede jackets (€20-210) and a bronze belt with a cr ystal-embellished elephant buckle (€85) – but also to furniture and homewares, like orange enamel telephones and 1960s floral-patterned plastic lamps (€45-2000).

But range isn’t the only thing that makes this store different from other vintage shops. Each piece has something eye-catching and different about it, whether it be black suede pumps with silver stars or a 1970s dark wrap skirt with a red, pink and green hibiscus design – don’t come here for basics.

Chausseestr. 131B, Mitte, U-Bhf Oranienburger Tor, Mon-Fri 13-8, Sat 13-18