Viva Class! Viva Funk! Viva Vintage!

Venture up to nearby Evanston for a classic collection

By Kristen Salamon

In a time when each generation adopts and adjusts fads from older generations, it is easy to understand why vintage stores have become so popular. Fashion has been recycled since I can remember. Bell-bottoms, platforms and big chunky sunglasses have all made their appearances in my lifetime, and I was born in the ’80s.

You’ll find all of these fads at Viva Vintage, a small storefront at 1043 Chicago Avenue in Evanston. Owned by Amy Ernst-Mayberry for eight years, the cozy shop is full of treasures. Cliché, I know. But if you aren’t into the sailor pants or crazy-print fabric dresses, go for the accessories. That’s what I did.

Spending time in Viva Vintage is like playing dress-up in your grandma’s closet. It smells like it, looks like it and sometimes the clothes fit like you’re still a little kid. But it also holds all of the fun of playing dress-up.

Viva Vintage is stacked with old jewelry. The big, colorful jewels that were made to overwhelm fingers and ears with their beauty consume a fair amount of my time and imagination when I visit Viva. I’ve always been a sucker for history, so it doesn’t take long for me to start wondering whom the jewelry may have belonged to before it ended up on Chicago Avenue.

Maybe the ring with the large green stone surrounded by petal-shaped pink stones belonged to a middle-aged woman. Maybe she was the young wife of an up-and-coming businessman. Or maybe she was a mother of three kids who liked fancy jewelry. Nobody knows, because according to Viva Vintage worker Kate Stephenson, they rarely hear stories about where everything comes from. This is despite the fact the owners come in themselves to sell the items to Ernst-Mayberry and her small staff. Stephenson has worked at Viva Vintage for four years, and her love for vintage goods and her personable employer make it easy to stay.

“Amy is a great boss,” Stephenson says. “I love vintage clothes, and every once in a while, I find a dress that stands out.”

The first time I went to Viva Vintage was a couple years ago. I was in search of a cute scarf but had no idea what I wanted it to look like. When I first walked into the store, I didn’t think I would find anything I liked. But upon further inspection, and with a little help from the lovely Ernst-Mayberry, I was proven wrong. I found a fun orange spring jacket along with a burgundy woman’s suit jacket. The number of scarves I had to choose from was surprising. There were patterns with everything from flowers to cowboys, to shapes I wouldn’t even know what to call. The ones I chose were gorgeous silk, one pink and one black, both with white polka dots. After that first visit, I was hooked. I could not wait to go back. Unfortunately, time became limited as school and work kicked into gear, so my next visit did not happen for over a year.

My second visit to Viva Vintage came early this August and proved just as successful as my first. I fell in love with a pair of wing-tipped pumps. They were white with black tips and heels. I couldn’t believe how classic these shoes looked! I could just imagine myself strutting down Michigan Avenue, sipping a chai latte, or maybe Sheridan Road on my way to class. Actually, scratch that. I think the shoes are a little too chic for walking around campus. Honestly, I’d like to wear them to an old-school jazz club. I imagine some sort of smoky, dark and mysterious place with a soulful woman crooning into a scratchy microphone, and all of the men wearing old top hats. These are the kind of images many of the items at Viva Vintage evoke.

The other items I decided were must-haves included the typical punk buttons and bracelets that line the countertop. With pictures of Rambo and action figures pasted to the buttons, and slogans that include one or two phrases that bring out a school girl giggle, one can’t help but picture them lining somebody’s book bag straps or jacket collars. Personally, I would not wear them. Instead, I would create some sort of montage on a piece of canvas or something along those lines. But either way, the little pieces of pop culture from some distant, and some not-so-distant, past can’t be ignored.

There have been very few people browsing the two times I’ve been to Viva Vintage, but that is not a true representation of the store’s popularity. According to Stephenson, Viva Vintage, while busiest around Halloween, when customers clamor for patterned dresses, boas and wigs, the store is also frequented by several of the downtown theatre companies, including Goodman and Steppenwolf.

So next time you go to a play and fall in love with a hat a character is wearing, or perhaps a dress, pay a visit to Viva Vintage, and you will probably find some similar great, old relics of the past.

More information on Viva Vintage can be found at www.chicago-vintage-clothing.com or by calling 847-475-5025.

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