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A Kardashian Offers Vintage Fashion On The East Side

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  • A Kardashian Offers Vintage Fashion On The East Side

    A KARDASHIAN OFFERS VINTAGE FASHION ON THE EAST SIDE
    By Mary Johnson

    DNAinfo.com
    http://www.dnainfo.com/20111201/murray-hill-gramercy/kardashian-offers-vintage-fashion-on-east-side
    Dec 1 2011

    MIDTOWN EAST - There's a Kardashian living in Midtown East who loves
    high-end, designer clothing with low necklines and stylish flairs -
    only this beautiful brunette isn't trailed by paparazzi or plagued
    by tabloid rumors.

    Her name is Janetta Kardashian, and she runs a tiny but swanky
    second-hand store called NY Vintage Club at 1073 First Ave. near
    East 59th Street. She's never met the reality TV-friendly trio of
    Armenian sisters who share her name, but she supposes there is a
    distant connection.

    "All Kardashians are related," said the storeowner, 40, an Armenian
    from Russia who came to the United States in 1993.

    Despite the reality TV ups and downs that have befallen her possibly
    distant relatives, Kardashian has managed to maintain a drama-free
    lifestyle. Over the past decade or so, she has built a business and
    a reputation all on her own.

    Her store on First Avenue doesn't stock old prom dresses or
    run-of-the-mill Louis Vuitton purses. Instead, her racks are full of
    sable fur coats, mink dresses, $1,000 evening gowns and a coat made
    of real leopard skin.

    Kardashian has helped Yoko Ono, the Olsen twins and Oscar winner
    Frances McDormand sift through her stock, which is now overflowing with
    Jimmy Choo stilettos and at least one handbag made out of ostrich. The
    desktop image on her work computer features a photo of her and fashion
    designer Marc Jacobs at one of his infamous soirees.

    Hers is really the only vintage shop in the neighborhood, and though
    the area lacks the retail prowess of shopping hubs further west,
    she makes up for it in spades.

    "This place, it's like a clubhouse," Kardashian said. "[My customers]
    all share their secrets here, their love affairs."

    Her shoppers like to linger inside for hours, she said, trying on a
    few things, gossiping over cups of tea and rarely leaving empty-handed.

    On her website, Kardashian notes that she will validate parking for
    customers who spend more than $800 inside her store. Reaching that
    amount is surprisingly easy, she explained, since she rarely prices
    any of her items at less than $350.

    Kardashian came to New York 18 years ago for love. Her romance didn't
    last, but her affair with New York City did.

    "Saw all the lights. Never went back," she recalled.

    Kardashian started her career in finance and technology, but she
    always had "a tremendous passion for fashion," she said.

    In Russia, she worked for an Italian oil company. On business trips to
    Italy, she would purchase mounds of clothes, stuff them into suitcases
    and sell them to her Russian friends.

    "I would come [home] with three suitcases - gone in two days,"
    she explained.

    In New York, her coworkers would solicit Kardashian's opinion on new
    purchases or style choices, often summoning her into the bathroom
    for impromptu fashion appraisals, she said.

    Eventually, Kardashian decided to leave the corporate world and launch
    her own business, NY Vintage Club. She nabbed a little storefront on
    First Avenue and East 59th Street, just a few feet from her current
    spot. A month later, her shop was written up in Elle magazine.

    "I wanted one-of-a-kind pieces. I wanted not to follow fashion. I
    wanted to create style," she explained.

    "I have to be honest," she added, "it worked from day one."

    Over the years, the shop has seen its share of "soap operas" and
    customers with odd proclivities, and Kardashian said that nothing
    surprises her anymore.

    One woman from Brazil shops there just four times a year - and only
    at 10 p.m., long after the store's official close.

    Every visit, the customer orders sushi from a restaurant nearby and
    sips flutes of champagne, Kardashian said. She never tries anything
    on, instead asking her driver, "Do you think I will look good in this?"

    Kardashian moved NY Vintage Club to its current location at 1073
    First Ave. about three years ago, and by the end of the year she is
    hoping to move yet again. She has her heart set on either East 57th
    Street and Madison Avenue or East 60th Street and Lexington Avenue -
    although on the second floor, not the first.

    "Obviously, I cannot pull this off on the first floor," she said,
    gesturing at her small but selective stock of specialty items,
    including an ornate jacket she said was once worn by Cher and a sable
    fur coat that she claims could easily fetch $50,000 retail.

    Kardashian's sticker price for the item is just $2,500.

    Her clientele - a loyal following that often accompanies her on girls'
    outings to the opera or the ballet - are sad to see her leave the
    stretch of First Avenue. But although Kardashian may be a little
    farther west, she will still be in the neighborhood, she explained.

    "I live here. I know everyone," she said. "You need to know the spirit
    [of a neighborhood]."

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