“The whimsical girl economy in New York City is crashing,” Junkyard Thrift owner Olivia LaRossa declared on Instagram. “There are not [many] shops that carry fun, funky, whimsical, mid-to-plus-size clothing, but we do.”
Stepping into her Bushwick, Brooklyn store, you’re immediately met with ethereal decorations like swan sculptures and ornate silver frames. 1970s prairie dresses, slip gowns and other eclectic, colorful garments from bygone eras hang from the racks — each piece a small fantasy in its own right. These days, it’s rare to find a store with as much personality as this one. But as homogeneous, clean-girl aesthetics continue to sweep through the fashion world, a group of young shop owners in New York City are dedicated to keeping whimsy alive.
Junkyard ThriftPhoto: Courtest of Junkyard Thrift
This past summer, “whimsy” took the internet by storm, fueled by coquettish runway collections, Olivia Rodrigo’s signature babydoll dresses and a rise in romantic period dramas, from “Wuthering Heights” to the upcoming “Pride and Prejudice.”
When it comes to fashion, whimsical aesthetics are seen as romantic, colorful and full of personality. The trend is an invitation to experiment with fashion while having fun. The catch? It can’t be found so easily in traditional retail, where uniformity thrives. Enter today’s thrift entrepreneurs, our young, social media-savvy knights in shining armor (or voluminous tulle), who curate clothes and retail experiences that ooze playfulness and vitality — for those who seek it.
After 10 years of professional thrifting, LaRossa founded Junkyard Thrift in 2025. It’s primarily home to slip dresses, lingerie from the 1930s-2000s and sleepwear. LaRossa aims to bring under-appreciated labels back onto fashion’s radar, such as Gunne Sax and Jessica McClintock, in a bid to create the very world she argues the city has lost. She recognizes the term “whimsical” has recently become overused online, but, for her, whimsy still means incorporating playful pieces into her everyday life and not taking herself too seriously.
Junkyard ThriftPhoto: Courtest of Junkyard Thrift
“It’s easy to go shopping and feel a lack of excitement about the clothes that are offered to us, whether it’s cheap fabrics, inconsistent sizing or hefty price tags,” she tells Fashionista. It’s her mission to “stock beautiful and fun vintage in all sizes so anyone can feel good about browsing the racks.”
LaRossa isn’t alone in the pro-whimsy mission. New York City showroom The NY Archive looks like it’s been pulled straight from a Y2K-era rom-com. Inside its bright-pink walls, shoppers can browse bright-patterned Pucci pieces, big Chanel bags, Cavalli jeans and Fendi Baguettes. Gianna Corvino opened the showroom this year after operating online since 2024, as she wanted to create a space where women could reconnect with their inner child and have fun playing dress-up. In fact, her first collection resulted from a mission to find all the original pairs of designer shoes that her mother owned in the early 2000s.
“From the response on social media, friends and family, it was clear that people were looking for something that was playful, whimsical and nostalgic,” she says. “I always think of ‘whimsy’ as a reflection of my uniqueness,” she continues, “the fact that it’s okay to love pink and to just represent yourself through your clothes.” Built around community, Corvino keeps fashion’s magic alive, all the while proving that secondhand can be sophisticated — or camp.
Screaming Mimi’sPhoto: Courtesy of Screaming Mimi’s
But the thrifting landscape wasn’t always so charming. When Laura Wills and Biff Chandler opened Screaming Mimi’s in 1978, the environment was completely different: Most resale stores were presented as charity shops. By seeing the old through a modern lens, Wills and Chandler set out to build a more modern and curated secondhand destination from a stylist’s perspective. And it worked. Customers couldn’t believe that what they were selling had already been used. When fashion became more static years later, the Screaming Mimi’s ethos didn’t change.
According to the current owner, Dani Cabot, people come to the store looking for outfits that will set them apart. “We strive to offer a curation of clothing that is boundary-pushing, which sometimes isn’t the easiest thing to sell,” Cabot confesses, “but when the right person finds the right item, it’s like magic.”
Lately, Betsey Johnson has been “flying off the shelves.” But whatever Cabot is selling, one thing always remains: the desire to make people feel like they’re stepping into a world of their own, discovering treasures: “The thrill of finding something you weren’t anticipating or hadn’t imagined existed is a great joy.”
Close FriendsPhoto: Courtesy of Close Friends
At Close Friends, owners Liz Ballmaier and Carson Koser share that spirit. “It’s one thing to source cool shit, but making the customer feel confident in it is what’s most important,” the duo states. Founded in September 2024 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Close Friends is described as a “curated shop that feels like you’re walking into Lizzie McGuire or Hannah Montana’s dressing room.” Among their best sellers are silk fringe dresses, calf hair coats, rabbit fur jackets and archival Romeo Gigli pieces.
While Carson considers whimsical fashion to be in the same trend-based vein as “cool girl,” Ballmaier feels it boils down to adding something eccentric or unique to one’s look: an unexpected pop of color, a fun vintage bag or a shoe that doesn’t necessarily go with the outfit, but ultimately works perfectly for that very reason.
Close FriendsPhoto: Courtesy of Close Friends
While the whimsical trend keeps growing beyond the vintage realm — see McKenna Grace’s looks for “The Hunger Games” press tour and TikTok guides for “whimsical Halloween costumes” — it aligns so well with the eclectic, retro nature of the secondhand market. Cabot adds another layer to the appeal, namely “the decline of quality in contemporary manufacturing, and how vintage pieces were built to last.”
For Helga Hitko and Sasha Knysh, models and founders of Khata Vintage, individuality is key. They launched Khata – meaning “home” in Ukrainian – in 2024 because, in Hitko’s words, they’re shopalcoholics. “It was enough of a reason to create something where we could fulfill our passion-slash-addiction,” she says. Located on the Lower East Side, the store offers ceramics, paintings, clothes and jewelry that somehow are eerie, elegant, sultry, and whimsical all at once.
Khata VintagePhoto: Courtesy of Khata Vintage
While all these businesses continue to champion the playful spirit and condemn self-seriousness, they’re endorsing something else, too: a desire for community, for connection. “We just want girls to feel comfortable,” Knysh says. “The whole idea was that you come in and you feel like this is home.” That dedication to community takes different forms across these spaces, from Ballmaier and Koser wanting customers feel like they’re in their best friend’s closet, to Corvinno embracing an ethos of pure girlhood.
Adds LaRossa, “Buyers like to know where their outfits come from and the many stories behind them, so they can feel part of something bigger,” she says. All the shop owners have stories to tell: LaRossa and her ’70s Gunne Sax prairie dress that had to be hemmed into a mini by its previous owner after being damaged; Corvino literally giving a customer the shirt off her back; Cabot discovering a trio of metallic suits with music-note appliqués that were custom-made for a DuWop group in the ’80s; Hitko and Knysh selling a fur coat so quickly that it actually broke their hearts; and Ballmaier and Koser finding wedding dresses for new brides.
Maybe then, the whimsical fashion retail movement is less about what you wear and more about the meaning behind it. As La Rossa puts it, “it’s an escape from our everyday lives, it’s a way to make your day feel special.” For these whimsical thrift stores, at the end of the day, keeping fashion’s magic alive is enough.