Buy Local
continued from p. 26
The shop has hosted a facial workshop with Evelia Torres from bath and body company De Mi Tierra, surrounded by plantitas. Rodriguez says the store also plans to host yoga classes in collaboration with the Latina Sweat Project. Also on the horizon: a workshop where patrons can design plant-themed earrings with a gem. She says, “My goal is to collaborate with as many small businesses as I can and create that open table concept of camaraderie.” The south side needs more green space, and if that means walking into Rodriguez’s space for a bit of photosynthesis,
BEST RESALE SHOP Winner: The Brown Elephant Andersonville
First Runner-up: Village Discount Outlet Second Runner-up: The Brown Elephant Lakeview
BEST SEX TOY SHOP Winner: Early to Bed
First Runner-up: The Pleasure Chest Second Runner-up: Egor’s Dungeon and Night Dreams
BEST SHOE STORE Winner: Alamo Shoes
First Runner-up (TIE): Wesley’s Shoes First Runner-up (TIE): Lori’s Shoes Second Runner-up: Fluevog Shoes then by all means, step into her sanctuary. instagram.com/nodeplantshop —S. NICOLE LANE
BEST PLACE TO UPGRADE YOUR WARDROBE
Chicago Costume
I Chicago Costume MICCO CAPORALE
28 CHICAGO READER - FEBRUARY 22, 2024
t’s common to hear that Chicagoans lack style, that we privilege a midwestern asceticism and conformity over distinguished taste. I don’t think that’s true, but I understand why it feels true, especially as someone born and raised in the heartland who lost years struggling to feel at home in my body. I also used to believe good taste was something
BEST STREETWEAR BRAND Winner: Dearborn Denim
BEST T-SHIRT SHOP Winner: Strange Cargo
BEST TATTOO ARTIST Winner: Julia Campione (Good Omen)
BEST VETERINARIAN Winner: Ravenswood Animal Hospital
First Runner-up: Chicago Girls Do It Better Second Runner-up: Soundoff Design
First Runner-up: Cloey Zikmund (Supplementary) Second Runner-up (TIE): Jonny Watson (Fudo Tattoo) Second Runner-up (TIE): Vanessa Vargas (Tattoo Avenue)
BEST TATTOO SHOP Winner: Evoke Tattoos
First Runner-up: Raygun Second Runner-up: Transit Tees
First Runner-up: BLVD Vet Ravenswood Second Runner-up: BLVD Vet Logan Square
BEST VINTAGE STORE Winner: Broadway Antique Market First Runner-up: Fad2Fresh Second Runner-up: Andy’s Art Antiques & Oddities
First Runner-up: Great Lakes Tattoo Second Runner-up: Fudo Tattoo you needed money to have. Money affords a lot more choice and autonomy, but I’ve lived long enough to know most people with fat bank accounts lack the confidence and imagination to move through the world in an aesthetically interesting way. Singular style comes from a sense of self that embraces possibility and imagination. That’s why discovering the discount vintage theater costume room at Chicago Costume was the best thing to happen to my wardrobe this year. In 2022, Chicago Costume, everyone’s favorite Halloween warehouse, absorbed Broadway Costumes, a century-old purveyor of stage clothes. The company found itself with an abundance of inventory that didn’t quite work for any of its businesses, so at the end of September they collected some of the surplus—
brilliantly feathered headdresses, weatherworn mascot suits, retired chorus-line looks, and more—within a modest-sized room at Chicago Costume’s Montrose location and opened it to the public through Halloween. Sometime mid-October, I stumbled in looking for a wig and wound up spending four hours in the special room trying on everything from a long 70s brown leather jacket with exaggerated lapels and a cinched waist to removable sleeves that swallowed my arms in white and red ruffles. Among the things I took home were a flamingo-pink jeweled twopiece suit appropriate for the Cosmic Country Showcase ($30), black velvet lederhosen with intricate floral detailing ($10), and a pink top with shoulders blossomed with thick layers of weathered taffeta in a spectrum of reds ($15).