Vintage fashions more likely to be found in cities & thrift stores

What goes around comes around. It's a saying that the majority of us have heard at one point, whether it was through a personal experience or from that Justin Timberlake song.

The saying also describes the fashion industry perfectly. Whether we want them to or not, most trends that fall out of fashion eventually regain their popularity later. This cycle produces the entire area of fashion known as vintage.

Vintage is extremely important, because without the cycle, we'd just have a ridiculous amount of discarded clothing in a landfill somewhere.

But western Pennsylvania isn't the best place to find awesome clothing hidden in a thrift store. I don't think anyone is surprised by that. If you're going to an ugly sweater party, though, you've hit the jackpot.

You'd have much better luck finding fashionable vintage in a city. So next time you travel to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, do some pre-departure scouting out of vintage stores in the area.

There are several options for vintage shopping in Pittsburgh.

Avalon Exchange seems most promising. It has two locations in Pittsburgh: one in Squirrel Hill and the other in Mt. Lebanon.

Avalon is selective in the clothing it accepts, so you don't have to dig through a bunch of unwearable crap to get to the good stuff.

According to its Web site, it carries many high-end brands, including Marc Jacobs, Celine, Burberry, Escada, Dior and Manolo Blahnik-for all of the Sex and the City fans out there. Other vintage clothing stores located in Pittsburgh are Hey Betty! and Yesterday's News.

Philadelphia has even more options to satisfy vintage shoppers, which is fitting because it's on the opposite side of the state. Vintage Connection is a great little shop on the corner of 9th and Bainbridge Streets.

The inventory is relatively small but extremely well edited to only include those pieces that fit within the store's identity.

Plus, they had a really cute tiny dog when I was there. I love stores that have a cat or dog running around. They add a lot to the experience.

My sister, who goes to school in Philadelphia, frequents The Attic for her vintage clothing and accessories.

When I asked her why she liked it so much, she replied, "It has a good mix of styles of clothes, lots of accessories, some art and home stuff. It's packed, but not in an overwhelming way. More like in a way that makes you want to hunt through everything. The person working there was really nice and easy to have a conversation with. And it has a quirky little atmosphere."

My sister's cool, so I trust that The Attic is just as cool. Buffalo Exchange, Retrospect and Vintage Vixen are other Philadelphia vintage stores. One of the advantages to buying vintage clothing is that you can achieve the same look as a current trend without spending the amount of money that you would for brand new clothing.

Fashion works in a cyclical pattern, which makes vintage shopping even easier.

Safari-inspired clothing is a good example. It regains popularity every few seasons for spring and fall. Search for trench coats, belts and layering pieces in olive green, khaki and browns.

If you're in need of inspiration, just ask your relatives. Old photographs are excellent sources to use.

Depending on the eras that interest you, look through photos of your parents or grandparents for inspiration.

If these aren't available to you, or if your parents' previous fashion choices were repulsive, then you can visit www.shorpy.com.

This site is an online archive of vintage photographs dating from the 1850s to the 1950s. There's an enormous amount of photos (over 600 pages!) to look through, including portraits, animals, architecture, curiosities and natural disasters.

In other words, basically everything, which means that you're guaranteed to find something that inspires you if you take the time to look.

The most important idea while shopping for vintage clothing is to keep everything in perspective. The styles will be older and the fit may not be perfect.

You don't have to wear clothing exactly how you buy it, though.

You can always shorten a skirt or pants, remove embellishments or sleeves and have the garment altered to improve the fit.

Do whatever you can to take the old vintage to awesome vintage!

Have a great Spring Break, and if you're in a city, get searching! You never know what you'll find.