Original subtitles

Hello everyone welcome to

Today I'm very very excited

we're gonna meet our friend Hamlet who

has a beautiful magical store here in

the village called Hamlet's vintage. Today

have fun, let's see what he has.

Hello everyone, Hamlet,

Bienvenido a Un Chín welcome to Un Chín

So I am in your magical,

beautiful, colorful store.

Hamlet, tell us a little bit about you.

Well, my name is Hamlet

I'm originally from

the Dominican Republic.

I moved to New York 30 years ago.

Wow.

So everything has been a journey.

To start my mother,

she's a fashion Dominican.

designer

And that's how I grow up in fashion.

When I was born, she

started her clothing line.

So I grew up between fabrics

and this has been my world ever since.

Back in the 90s, I

decided to move to the States

and I started working in a store in Soho

where I started to also

do part of the buying,

especially in the vintage,

which was not like a big thing back then,

but I was involved in that feel

and one thing left to another.

Now I was able to open a pop-up store

back in the early 2008.

And since then it's been

20 years I have my own shop.

So, but wait, explain to me

how do you get into vintage?

Why?

How do you get into it?

Well, because as I say,

it's not how I get into it.

I live on this.

You live on it.

Since the beginning, since I was born,

I was between fabrics.

I always been between fashion.

So it's something that

it comes from my genes

I would say.

Yeah, my mother, she's still alive.

She's still alive.

Oh yeah, she's like my first fan in

Instagram and Facebook.

She's always like checking things

and sometimes when I

go shopping, I take her.

She comes visiting.

So I mean, I think whatever you like.

And then I will say,

"Hey, I bought

somebody bought that weird top

that you like."

She's like, "Of course I know it."

Wow.

Talking about people that have come by

and I know there's a lot of

celebrities, a lot of people,

but anyone that you could

mention that have been here?

Well, so many people that

have been around here like,

that celebrities will

get like a little scared

of buying vintage or being a retail shop.

Like the good feeling and

the magic thing about this

is this is like a personal store.

So once they come, they

feel home and I let them be.

One of my favorite, of

course, is Sarah Jessica Parker.

She actually wrote

about me on her Instagram

and highlighted me as one

of the best vintage shops.

Did that for you?

That was amazing.

That was like, it's blow my social media

and still that happened

a couple of years ago.

Still people come be like,

"Hey, this is Sarah's

favorite shops in New York."

Sexand the city, yeah?

Yeah.

And how was she?

She was amazing.

Like I actually did

some collaboration with her

for divorce and

sometimes the clothing department

just like that, they come and shop.

So it's a big journey.

You were mentioning,

so most of your pieces

are like one of a kind.

Yeah, yeah, we go for real vintage.

We go from 1940s to the early 90s.

That's the time that I consider vintage.

Right now there's a

tendency that people feel like,

especially young kids,

they feel Y2K is vintage

because it's already 20 years.

For me, it's not that

we're getting older,

but it's just like,

when it comes to vintage,

most of these pieces, they

were not mass production.

So to start with the

quality, that's what it matters.

Yeah.

You know.

And one thing that I love

that you said, this is home.

It's like a personalized store.

Yeah.

Is that a feeling that

everyone that comes here feels?

Yes, they do.

It's a very welcoming store.

And I've had people from all different

kinds of backgrounds,

everywhere from the world.

And this is one of the reasons why you

come to New York City.

You want to see stores like this.

You don't want to see generic shops.

So generics, you can see anywhere.

This is what makes New York.

Right.

Can we walk around a little bit

and show them how

you're going to play this?

Well, we recently moved this location.

It's been since June.

Prior, I was just across

the street for over 10 years.

And before, I was on

Blicker for almost 10 years.

So we're talking about

more than 20 years running.

Wow.

And--

That's amazing.

So you've been an entrepreneur.

Yeah.

Like, I've been through a lot.

And I say, this is my passion.

I mean, it has to be.

It's probably tough.

And this neighborhood, this is a store

that represents the neighborhood, too.

Yeah.

And actually, now this

building is very special

because this is a

building where Bob Dylan moved

for the first time in

New York back in the 60s.

Oh, wow.

So yeah, there's a lot of music involved.

Music and history.

Yeah, it's Bohemian.

Bohemian.

So let's look at some clothes.

OK.

So right here, you will

see a lot of the menswear.

I tried to keep it on the

right-hand side at this moment.

OK.

I do have some

collaborations with an Italian designer

that he custom-made

pieces for me and painted.

So these are one of the kind.

For example, talking about Bob Dylan,

I request to get some

of Bob Dylan's work.

So this is something

that no one else has.

And they're made in Italy.

Also, I don't know if

you know Pedro Almodovar

Of course.

He is my favorite director.

So one of the things that I asked

was some of his movie

posters back from the 80s.

And a lot of art.

This is actually his first movie.

Pepe, luci,Bom y otras Chicas del Monton

So I like things that are quite unique.

Yeah.

And that's what we're here for.

Beautiful.

So as you can tell, well, there's

a lot of people who are

being surrounded by the store.

And we're going to make

sure that we include those.

Yeah, there's everybody you can imagine.

And on this side, it's funny.

You will see part of the decor is very

eclectic and wearable.

Some people get a little confused.

They feel like, oh,

vintage is for a special occasion

or I'm going for a theme party.

We teach that this is not costume.

This is real clothes.

And they've been standing

for more than 40, 50 years.

So I always say, if

you're looking for a costume,

this is not a place.

This is real clothes.

So even like, OK, you're

going for something special.

Get something that

you're going to wear again

or you're going to enjoy it.

Because they deserve a second life.

Not just a fun thing to do.

You speak about clothes.

If they had a life, you know?

They do.

Think about it.

I go through tons of clothes.

What I see, some of my

suppliers, I can see racks.

And I will be like,

these belong to my store.

So they all attached to me.

And I'm like a librarian.

You can pick anything and

I can tell you what it is.

It's like I buy every single piece.

So I don't do consignment.

I don't do donations.

People don't come here randomly.

Oh, I have this for you.

Like, no.

It's a journey.

I also travel to Europe.

So I take my work with a

lot of dignity and respect.

And when it comes down to

seeing your pieces in Hollywood

and different, how does that feel?

Oh, amazing.

When I see something, I especially

chose, I don't know, Ryan Murphy from the

America Horror Story.

Yes, yes.

And even recently, Field,

which they did the Capote

the Swans.

Yep.

All those, like a lot of

those pieces belong to me.

So they come and look for--

and I'm very proud when I see

my pieces on the big screen and on the TV

and knowing that they

really look for authentic.

It's not like just to cover up.

It's like real clothes.

Let's keep working.

You think that you experience styling.

How about the-- I know

that you do styling also.

You did.

How does that--

help with you?

Does it help out to be

able to be an archive?

Well, the styling

part is part of the game

because it's like even when some other

customers, when they come,

they don't know their body shape.

Sometimes people go for a fashion trend.

And not because

something is fashion right now.

It means it belongs to your body.

So there's a big difference.

And I try to help people to tell, hey,

no, those pants are not good for you.

I'm sorry.

It's like I'm your friend.

I'm not your enemy.

Man, I wonder what you

think about my outfit.

Oh, no, you look great.

Thank you.

So yeah, you're right.

But styling is goes

with what you're doing.

Yes, it's part of the game.

And also, I like to even

like on my social media,

I don't know if you notice, check me on

Instagram and Facebook.

I like to take pictures of my customers.

So you can see the pieces are live.

Sometimes when you see it on someone,

you understand it makes sense.

Especially for people

that are not used to vintage,

they feel a little, oh, this is weird.

No, it's not.

It's actually, it makes all sense.

Yeah, I can't wait.

I think you are gaining a client.

I would like to come here and see what--

Oh, yes, I can feel.

I can help you.

That's what I do.

I love the idea that you

feel that way about clothes.

Anything that you would like to tell us,

which is must of your store?

That's my thing.

Yeah, that's my thing.

Well, what I can say, like, as you see,

there's like a lot of love.

Yes.

And there's always a lot of research

of the mobile art

posters, as you can see there.

Yep.

I've been surrounded by

the things that I love.

Yeah, just do it.

Even the music that I

play is all vintage.

Like, you're not gonna listen.

You know, this feels like,

I've been to many

studio, art studios, right?

You remember the Dario

studio, we went to my studio,

and it's like you start

collecting the little things

that make you happy.

Oh, yeah.

This feels that way.

It feels like a collection of someone.

It definitely has your personality.

Yeah.

And you can see that each piece

is not only displayed

beautifully and with love,

but it's also been picked with love.

Yes, it's like, I feel like

I say the clothes talk to me.

Like, they are the ones

that says, "I belong to you."

And I love when I see a

customer that will come and say,

"You know what, this piece was like,

"it makes me so happy whenever I wear it,

"people will notice me."

And I'm like, life is too short to be

wearing boring clothes.

I got a question for you.

Yeah.

Have you ever picked

a piece that you love

and you put it to sale and

the wrong energy buys it?

Like a person that

you're like, "Oh, okay."

Has that ever happened?

not Exactly, because

usually I'm very good on that.

But one funny thing was,

this guy was trying this

jacket and he wanted it.

And I don't like to put things on hold.

I'm sorry.

I don't do hold things

because these are one piece,

once it's gone, it's gone.

So he came back and then he

was very rude and walk away.

And couple of days

later, I saw the same jacket

to somebody who looks perfect on it.

I feel like that jacket,

instead of giving about energy,

it didn't belong to that person.

Okay, okay, so it worked out.

It worked out the way it should be.

All right.

And also one thing that

I wanna let people know,

when it comes to the environment,

most of the clothes is already done.

It's like start to play

with things that you know

that somebody took care

and they stay on time.

Like when it comes to quality,

the fabrics are very different.

If you go and touch

wool now, it's a blend.

It's not real wool.

The same with denim.

Then it's not supposed to be stretchy.

That's just like a

generic way to make clothes.

So these clothes were built to last.

And I know it could

be a little investment,

but in the wrong turn, it's better.

Like invest with

something that has quality,

not just for the moment.

Well, since we're here,

and I think you can be a perfect model

for Hamlet's Vintage

do you want me to style

a couple of looks for you

and see how it looked?

I should do.

Yeah, well, sometimes black is great,

but let's do some color too.

All right, let's go.

Let's go.

All right.

so, lo que vamos a hacer ahora es que, ven por aqui

This is from 1960s.

And this is a great,

full look.

And this is very old-time right now.

So, 1960s.

Yeah.

All right, you know.

I haven't even seen myself.

Go and check yourself in the mirror.

crazy man yeah like yeah this

is the the Un Chín money guy yes

okay so now we're going for a

little more casual this is like

i would say that kind

of 90s style and boom

the queen is here madonna so this is part

of our custom collection hand-painted

Okay, our paint is born

in 1970, so here we go.

And he's ready for a

Saturday night fever situation.

Right?

Un Chín!

Yeah!

Well, at least it was worth it.

Manholeo, that dress

stop, it had an amazing time.

Un Chín, of the Live in New York City.