Last weekend after a lovely brunch, I meandered over to Mister Market—a new flea market in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Out of literally hundreds of markets in New York City, what is so special about this one? As the clever name hints, everything was focused on men—just in time for father's day too!Booths were set up in the Public Assembly and featured everything from electronics to food and clothing. The space was fairly intimate and even had a bar with drink specials like southern iced tea (heavily spiked of course).
One of my favorites was Graham Withers, a local necktie line designed and hand-made by Paul Hanan and Dave Roma. The two young designers started out making t-shirts out of their Brooklyn apartment but later moved into ties. They taught themselves how to make them by taking apart old ties and using them as patterns. "It's not that much sewing, but a lot of cutting and ironing. It takes a lot of patience," they told me. Each tie takes around 3 hours to make by hand. I especially loved the casual summer vibe of the seersucker and gingham fabrics.
Another standout booth was from Kill Devil Hill, a store in Greenpoint, whose owner Mary Brockman happened to be the organizer of Mister Market as well. It was a great eclectic mix of great unique vintage pieces like a top hat and some corn cob pipes and locally produced products like stationary and beer and pretzel caramels. Her father even makes soap with a natural bug repellant in it ("it really works," she said) that was displayed in amazing vintage attaché. In fact, her vintage selection is so well curated that Brockman routinely rents things out to stylists as props for shoots.
Overall, Mister Market was a great event. The only drag was that it was one-day-only—let's hope that it comes back soon!
