April 30, 2008
Assembly Required
New and Vintage Finds on the LES
There's a lot to discover if you know where to look. Or even if you know someone who knows where to look...
Welcome to Assembly New York, a collection of vintage finds and international gear, now quietly open on the Lower East Side.
The hole-in-the-wall location may have a familiar LES boutique look, but the contents are far from common. They don't separate out the vintage from the new, so the best tactic is to dive right in. The labels are mostly foreign, like the Danish Henrik Vibskov who contributes a few bright green raincoats, so you won't run into anything too familiar. They even find room for L.A. gray-scalers Endovanera, if you don't mind a little pacific flavor, alongside vintage wingtips and knit silk ties to indulge your historical streak.
But the real finds aren't on the racks. Peek under the glass display cases and you'll find a whole other store's worth of antique trinkets, like a ram-shaped bolo tie or a set of treated brass shoehorns dating back to the Gangs of New York era. There's even a vinyl section in the back (skewed towards 60s prog) for a more musical discovery, and a selection of heavy metal t-shirts for your perusal.
Because Iron Maiden never goes out of style.
