Along the sidewalk of East Main Street in Purcellville, there is a building that presents a wide arrangement of vintage dresses across the front porch. These dresses belong to Nostalgia, Purcellville’s very own vintage clothing store. Owned by Silas Redd, Nostalgia offers a variety of vintage clothing styles and sizes for both men and women throughout Loudoun County.
Nostalgia started as Redd’s capstone project before graduating with his BA in fashion and merchandising from Virginia Commonwealth University. Redd’s degree in fashion merchandising helped him learn the business side of fashion. “We would do everything from developing a line, to research, to visual merchandising,” Redd explained. At the end of the program students would take everything that they had learned and put it into a business plan. While most saw this as a means to graduate from the course, Redd saw this as his future and took the assignment very seriously. When he received his grade on the assignment, he had received the highest grade in the department in 7 years. His professors then encouraged him to start his business, saying that they could see his passion towards the project.
After Redd left college, he spent around five years working and saving money to start up Nostalgia. After all of his work, he was “at the right place, at the right time.” Redd continued that comment when he explained, “Purcellville chose me.” One of Redd’s friends owned the building before him and suggested that he open up a store within the building. At first, Redd was hesitant, as there was another shop in the building at the time that was an equestrian shop. Redd ended up starting up a shop on the bottom floor of the building in August 2016. As business took off, Redd acquired the entirety of the building by December 2016.
Redd remarked that he acquired his fashion sense through the women of his family. One of his grandmothers lived in the city, and the other in the country. “You got the sensibleness and then the one that was kind of a little over the top,” Redd explained. His mother also had an amazing sense of classic fashion. He shared that clothes were sometimes bought because of the energy they gave off. “It wasn’t always things that were really expensive, it was just kinda like the moment,” Redd said. Growing up in a family that appreciated fashion provided a huge impact on Redd’s life, helping expand his love of fashion.
The best part about running the store for Redd is the customers. He shared that it is really gratifying when a customer comes in hesitant because of the stigma around vintage clothing being small, but are able to find something to wear. “We really pride ourselves on having something for just about anyone,” Redd remarked. It is really touching for Redd when customers come in to buy a prom dress or an outfit for a first date. “Because they could go anywhere. Retail is huge, you could go online or go to a big box store, or go to the mall, but when a person makes a discussion to shop here and shop local… It means a lot. It makes it worth it,” Redd explained.
When the store first opened, it was geared towards cocktail or formal dresses; all very fancy. As they continued to expand, the formal dress market shrunk, but the wearable everyday outfits started to sell more. “You’re buying something vintage, but it doesn’t look like a costume,” Redd remarked. They changed their winter wardrobe repertoire as well by putting out sweaters and coats in different colors.
Redd discussed how recently 90’s trends have been popping up as the latest fashion trends, but Nostalgia allows customers to buy authentic clothing that is actually from the time period of the trend, whether it is from the 70’s or the 90’s. This allows for “true vintage” instead of newly manufactured clothing in stores. Redd explained that he doesn’t necessarily have a favorite trend, but loves when designers go back into their archives and recreate what they were doing during different decades of fashion.
One of the more noticeable elements of Nostalgia is the line of dresses, coats, and outfits that line the front porch facing Main Street. Redd said that sometimes the dresses are based on what’s going on: New Years Eve parties, rainy days, pop culture. The goal throughout the years has always been to “spark a conversation” and “make people feel good,” Redd shared. Redd also commented that the running joke is, ”If the mannequins look especially good it is because I was having a bad day.” Any anger and negative energy he had was transformed into something else that looked really good.
Redd goes all up and down the East Coast to find the clothing sold in the store. People also bring him things to buy; allowing him to expand the inventory frequently. Redd also mentioned that he has a few sources from where he gets products that are “Top Secret.”
“Most of the time, we hear that people in this area do not want to have to go to Leesburg or Tyson’s, so we have really filled a need for the area,” Redd said, when he commented that Nostalgia has really established itself in the DMV area. “There’s really not another shop that’s quite like ours,” Redd remarked.
Nostalgia is ready for spring! Redd recently came back from a trip where he purchased over 300 pieces of clothing. This added to their over 2,000 pieces already in the store, allowing everyone to find the perfect new spring outfit. Redd also owns Mister on Main which is a men’s boutique inside of Nostalgia. These stores offer a variety of mens and womens wear, for customers throughout the area.
