Join GQ style editor Yang-Yi Goh as we walk the rack at 10ft Single by Stella Dallas in Brooklyn, NY. Yang breaks down the do’s and don’ts when it comes to thrift shopping for the perfect men’s casual summer look—copping a few vintage finds on the way, including some Levi’s 501 denim jeans and a deerskin leather jacket to match.----------Director: Ava RikkiDirector of Photography: Josh HerzogEditor: Robby MasseyHost: Yang-Yi GohSenior Producer: Lizzy HalberstadtCoordinating Producer: Kevyn FairchildLine Producer: Jen SantosProduction Manager: James PipitoneProduction Coordinator: Elizabeth HymesCamera Operator: Duell DavisGaffer: David DjacoAudio Engineer: Sean PaulsenProduction Assistant: Quinton JohnsonPost Production Supervisor: Jess DunnPost Production Coordinator: Rachel KimSupervising Editor: Rob LombardiAssistant Editor: Justin SymondsFilmed on Location at: 10ft Single by Stella Dallas
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Young. I am the Senior Style Editor at GQ. Today we're at 10 Foot Single by Stella
00:05Dallas, one of the sickest vintage stores in all of Brooklyn. We're going to take a look around,
00:09check out a few racks. I'm going to put a rack of my own together full of stuff that I might buy,
00:14and we'll talk through my thought process as I shop.
00:23So we are here in the denim section of 10 Foot Single. As you can see, they have this massive
00:29wall of incredible jeans. Almost all of these are American-made Levi's. They're a little bit older.
00:35They've got a little bit better quality to them. They're going to hold up and sort of stand
00:39the test of time. And a lot of them have really cool wear and tear on them. Like this one from 1991.
00:46You can tell that someone really wore the crap out of these. They have a really strong wallet fade here.
00:52They are from Levi's Orange Tab collection, which is their sort of more experimental line. A really
00:58good pair of jeans is like a diary. If you wear them every day, you wear them in all sorts of
01:02situations, they sort of fade and crease to a person's body. These are basically my size too,
01:08so I might try these on and see how they fit. One great thing about coming to a store like 10 Foot
01:13Single is that the people who run this place are really, really knowledgeable about the stuff that
01:18they're selling you. Otherwise, you're kind of stuck looking for really telltale signs of the era.
01:23You got to look at tags really carefully and compare them. In terms of things that I would
01:29skip, this pair of 90s Levi's, they are a 512 slim fit with a tapered leg. And I just know for my body,
01:36that's not going to look that great. I like more of a straight leg or a wider leg. Something about
01:41the way that these like will just sort of cut in at your ankle just won't have the most flattering
01:45effect with when they sit on top of my shoes. I'm also not the biggest fan of like boot cuts. A boot
01:51cut jean is a jean like this where it sort of flares out at the bottom. The idea being that cowboy boots
01:58are pretty hefty and wide and so you might need a more generous cut at the bottom of your jean to
02:03fit your boots underneath. I think they look really, really good on certain people. A very famous recent
02:08example would be Kendrick at the Super Bowl. Looked awesome in his Celine flared jeans, but unfortunately,
02:15I'm just not one of those people. You know, in this moment, like I do like a little bit more of a beat up
02:19jean, something like this, for instance, where you have some real signs of life, right? Like there's
02:25like some really cool whiskering that's happening up here. Whiskering is these sort of lines that form,
02:30those happen because of the way that your jeans crease when you're sitting down, when you're bending
02:35your legs, when you're moving around. I know what year most of these jeans are from, but like
02:40a good way to tell what era a pair of jeans is, is if you flip the cuff up and you see selvage,
02:46which is sort of that often white and red taping that runs up along the seam of a pair of jeans,
02:51that means that it's a pair of Levi's that's from before the mid 80s, essentially. Oh wow,
02:57this is pretty sick. Here's a really great example of a pair of jeans that were super well loved.
03:03Someone probably blew out the knees of these, but didn't want to give them up. So they patched them
03:07up themselves. This is really rad. I mean, again, these are the kinds of things that you'll only find
03:12in a vintage store. Where else are you going to find a pair of jeans with Elmo staring back at you
03:17from your knees? This is really cool. These are a pair of Levi's from their line, Levi's Vintage
03:23Clothing. These are a reproduction of a really, really classic pair of Levi's. The 501 is the
03:28original straight leg cut. It's the jeans that Levi's has been making since like the 1890s. And as such,
03:34it's like the most revered fit in denim. People are really, really serious about their 501s. And
03:40sticklers like, you know, really love having a button fly, which is sort of the original way
03:45that jeans were closed. And it results in a different way that the placket on your jeans
03:49gets washed and fades differently.
03:55All right, now I'm going to check out some shirts. It has been a long, cold winter here in New York.
04:01Spring is finally starting to spring. So I'm looking for something a little bit lighter.
04:05And when it comes to lightweight, sort of warm weather shirts, there's nothing better in my mind
04:11than a really classic Madras. Madras is a plaid fabric that's been used in menswear for a really,
04:19really long time. The name comes from the Indian city, which is now known as Chennai. A really interesting
04:26thing about Madras fabric is that these plaids are traditionally made using vegetable dyes,
04:31which have, you know, this curious habit of sort of bleeding of the lines sort of starting to run a
04:37little bit when they're damp. That might sound like a bad thing. Like when you wash your shirt,
04:40it's not going to look the same when it comes out of the wash. But it's actually a feature
04:47of these shirts that people really, really look for and sort of covet. And on real old school
04:54Madras shirts, you'll see tags like this one that says guaranteed to fade and bleed. Just like
05:00the way that denim wears in over time, Madras shirts do exactly the same thing. And I think that's
05:05like a really, really cool feature about them. And also they're this really beautiful cotton fabric
05:09that's like light and nice to wear in the summertime. When you are shopping in vintage stores and thrift
05:15stores, and you're looking for sort of vacation-y shirts, you also come across a lot that sort of
05:21look, let's say like this, these sort of 70s-y shirts that are made, as you can see, not from cotton,
05:27but more of like a rayon. I generally try to steer clear of these. Often they have these really funky
05:33patterns. They look really cool. To me, it's a really weird fabric to want to wear in the summertime.
05:38It is like as non-breathable as it gets. You are going to be sweating up a storm wearing something
05:43like this. You won't smell very good to the people around you. And so no matter how good you look,
05:49you won't feel all that great. You know, a lot of different brands make great Madras shirts. Brooks
05:54Brothers, as like sort of a classic American menswear purveyor, does a lot of great ones. I'm pretty
06:01stoked on this one here, which is a really nice faded patchwork Madras. You know, it's got a bunch of
06:07different patterns all stitched together. Really, really, really nicely faded. You know,
06:12you can definitely tell that somebody probably spent like a bunch of summers at Cape Cod wearing
06:16this guy, digging into some lobster. I'm definitely going to try this guy on. And then on the flip side,
06:21I actually really like the look of this long sleeve button down. It's from Gantt, another classic
06:27American preppy brand. Another cool thing about this shirt is that it's dead stock, which means that it's
06:32vintage, but was never actually worn. You can see that it still has its original tags. And it's pretty
06:36much exactly how you would have found it on the shelves decades ago. The Madras here is like this
06:40really sort of nice darker tones of navy and orange. And I just think this will look really good with a pair
06:46of jeans or a pair of chinos, a lightweight fabric like this with the sleeves rolled up. It's just a really
06:51good look on like a nice spring day. So I'm going to try this guy on too. When I'm shopping for shirts,
06:56it's like a mix of everything, right? I'm looking for fabrics and colors that are going to catch my eye
07:01that I think might look good on me. I'm feeling the fabric to see if it feels good in your hand,
07:05it's probably going to feel good on your body. And then with shirts specifically, I'm always looking
07:10for great collars. I personally like a bit more of a longer collar, a collar that's that's got a little
07:17more attitude and body to it. I don't really like a wimpy collar, you know, like a collar like this
07:21with a really aggressive longer point is really cool to me. Something like this, which is a little
07:29daintier, a little smaller, isn't really quite as much my jam. In addition to Madras, another really
07:35classic fabric for the summertime is seersucker. And this is a really, really beautiful seersucker
07:42shirt. It's definitely from the mid-century. It's got this really cool old McGregor label. That's
07:47beautiful. Seersucker itself is this form of cotton that is puckered. It's like super lightweight. It
07:53feels great on the skin and is extremely breathable. It's really a staple in the South. There's like sort
08:01of this stereotype of Southern lawyers wearing seersucker suits cut into a vacation shirt like
08:07this, which has this camp collar. It's the kind of collar that lays open. It's like way more relaxed.
08:12It's meant to be worn on vacation. And it's $75, which is pretty hefty for a vintage shirt,
08:19I will grant you, but it's still got all of its original buttons. It's got these really nice dual
08:24pockets on the front, a great, great collar. Like this is just a really, really perfect shirt in my
08:29opinion. I think it's going to be a little too small for me, but if you are in Brooklyn, swing by and
08:35grab it. This is an absolute banger for the summertime.
08:37So we are now going to look at a few leather jackets. Leather jackets are a great thing to
08:45look for because they are such pricey investment item and you can often get really good value on
08:51an older leather jacket as opposed to buying one new. And you know, when it comes to leather jackets,
08:55there are probably two main kinds that people are shopping for. There are biker jackets that are meant
09:01to be worn on motorcycles. And then there's like aviator bombers were worn by pilots. Those are both
09:07great. You know, like if you want to look like Maverick from Top Gun, you can. But the cool thing
09:12about a store like Style Dallas is that you will also find a whole world of other kinds of leather
09:17jackets, kookier, weirder leather jackets. And that's where my heart lies. That's what I'm going to be
09:21looking for right now. So for instance, I spotted just now this crazy 70s leather blazer. It's like got a
09:29bit of a Western wear vibe to it. It's got all this crazy knotted stitching. This trim is pretty
09:37incredible. It's just like something that catches the eye and you want to just kind of keep staring
09:41at it. It's a 1970s men's whip stitch leather blazer. It's $495, which of new leather jackets will
09:49run you upwards of $1,000, sometimes $2,000, sometimes $5,000. This is like a one-on-one,
09:55you know what I mean? Like, just look at this thing. It's wild. Another leather jacket that caught
10:01my eye here is this really heavyweight, old-school Western jacket. Very, very cool. It's from Sears.
10:09Sears just made such great, high-quality, made-in-America heavyweight clothes that are meant
10:15for the outdoors, meant for working in. As a result, a lot of those clothes really stood the test of time.
10:20And it's got all this really cool detail. So it's got this sort of traditional Western stitching
10:25motif along the collar. It's got this Western placket that comes down here into sort of an arrow
10:30shape. You can sort of really tell that somebody lived in this jacket. Like, it's very well-loved.
10:36You know, suede is a really heavy, but also sort of delicate material. Like, it wears in really easily.
10:41And I think it comes out looking all the better for it. You know, it's like, you can feel the history
10:45behind it when you're wearing it. In terms of leather jackets that I'm not feeling on this rack,
10:49there are a couple. There's just too much happening here. You know, it's a trench coat made of leather.
10:54I mean, obviously, first and foremost, this thing is tiny. It's not meant for someone my size, but
10:58it's also just, like, got way too much happening. It says 100% leather, which sometimes actually is
11:04not a good sign. That means that it might be made of composite leathers. And it kind of ends up having this
11:10cheaper, more plasticky, kind of vinyl-y feel. You want something that, like, so for instance,
11:15this one I noticed, it says 60s deerskin. And if it says the kind of leather that it is,
11:20that generally means it's all cut from one hide, higher quality, real leather with real grain that'll
11:26sort of stand the test of time a little bit better and just feel nicer overall. All right. I think I
11:31filled a rack full of incredible stuff. I am going to try it on, see how it actually fits me. Let's go.
11:40Okay. I tried everything on and here is what I'm going to grab. I am going to get this Patchwork
11:48Madras Brooks Brothers shirt for $55. I'm getting these Levi's Vintage Clothing 501s for $145. And then
11:58I'm going to grab this 1960s deerskin jacket, which is $145 or so.
12:10All right. That's it. Thanks so much for walking the rack with me and I'll see you at the next store.