Antique Broccante: The Parisian Garage Sale and Flea Market

Even chocolate can have style.

      This question inevitably arises for many tourists, temporary residents, and globetrotters deciding to experience the city of lights: will this outfit fly in Paris?  It is a legitimate question, and truly one I toggled with before packing my bags.  Parisians do dress to impress, in subtle and classy manner.

      But even if one decides to pack light and buy Parisian when in Paris, the price tag defers most travelers.  In the land of cheap everything (ahem USA), America habituated me to the shopping at used clothing stores, with gem articles of clothing, marked way down and still great quality.  These types of stores have remained far and few between in my wanderings through Paris...that is, until I discovered the  "Antique Broccante".

A cross between a flea market and a garage sale, the Antique Broccante is a one weekend only outdoor market, in which local residents and a handful of professional sellers display their goods for people to bargain for and purchase.The objects range from vintage clothing, to scrappy old books, to real antique French furniture.  What makes the Antique Broccante so distinct from other flea markets is its fleeting and continually changing nature.  In Paris, each  neighborhood reserves a weekend to have their Broccante.  For each neighborhood, their Broccante happens once a year.  While professional vendors may sell at multiple Broccantes, most individuals selling at Broccantes are from that neighborhood, reflecting the flavor of the community and reiterating each Broccante as a unique and fleeting experience.

Where I got the sweater

Our happenstance encounter with the 11th arrondisement Broccante not only filled the afternoon with the greatly missed bargain hunting of American garage sales, but also soothed my craving for vintage clothes shopping.  At a stand full of 80's coats and dresses, I landed myself a Ralph Lauren French cashmere sweater.  The man would not bargain below 30 euros, but it being Paris, the center of fashion, I believed it was a good deal, and I was slowly on my way to looking more French, be it an American approach.