Sue Sutti in her tiny vintage clothing shop on Central Avenue. — Photo by Sarah Pappalardo

“I kept a lot of my own clothes since the ’80s. They’re so beautiful, but I’m too old for them,” Sue Sutti laughs behind her sewing machine.

Sutti’s vintage dress shop isn’t something you come across everyday – it is open a mere three hours a day during the week, but it’s well worth the trip if you are looking for truly unique vintage clothing.

“I get clothes – whatever I can find, I can modify the style to be more modern. I use vintage fabric to make a totally new style,” Sutti says. A talented seamstress herself, she cuts dresses and uses spare fabric for making bags and accessories. “So with this, I can enjoy myself too.”

From classic prints you’d find in your grandmother’s closet to more glamorous furs and colorful fabrics, each piece brings its own unique look that you can’t find in your average thrift store.

The store doesn’t technically have a name yet, or a sign out front, but Sutti is thinking of calling it “NVU,” or New Vintage Use. “New…because I go to Thailand, and I get cute clothes from Thailand.”

Sutti densely packs the small garage space below her apartment with clothing she has accumulated over the years. A stickler for finding just the right fabrics, she has carefully chosen pieces to work with; several bags, hats, and jewelry are also for sale. For those with more practical needs, Sutti also does alterations “…but I don’t charge much.”

Long story short: there is a lot of cute, original clothing in this tiny shop on Central. Check it out before Sutti goes to Thailand for the winter.

NVU
5 Central Avenue (at Forrest)
Mon-Fri 4pm-7pm

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