Upon walking into Fashion and Flea, I heard “La Bamba” blaring through a vintage speaker. Colors of the past came back to life as I took in the environment. I looked down at my modern attire, compared to everyone else’s, and realized it was a  different world.

On Jan. 31, I went to an event called Fashion and Flea at the Grapevine Convention Center.  It’s a vintage market where vendors  sell merchandise and crafts. Being wildly inexperienced in a vintage marketplace, I expected  to enter a shabby room where stained, washed out clothing filled the walls. I thought this was a place where you could look at a rusty antique and not be able to tell whether it’s a toaster or a lamp.

I could not have been more wrong.

The whole atmosphere of the event was beyond words. Dozens of booths filled the convention center with antiques and handmade crafts of all kinds were laid out across the wooden tables. Fashion and Flea also had an enormous collection of clothing and jewelry which could appeal to all styles and tastes, male and female, young and old. Fashion and Flea was also the location of the Dallas Record Flea, the perfect place for old school vinyls.

Though I did enjoy the curious trinkets displayed everywhere, the people I met will remain most vivid to me. Yeukai Rae of BrandsAMakeHerDance told me of her love of eccentric clothing and how she turned it into a business. And take Karrie Carr of Pop Tart Cherry, whose idea for creating jewelry out of broken records came out of being bedridden after a surgery at home. Or even Michael Insuaste who started his career as a humble photographer and is now the editor of JAM Magazine. As well as the owners of Man on the Moon Antiques, The Steampunk Ballroom and Eric Miller, who helped organize the whole event.

Fashion and Flea is an event I recommend to all, even if antiques don’t tickle your fancy. The perfect mix of past and present is exhibited at this event, as well as all the interesting and eccentric items you can find. The next Fashion and Flea will be Oct. 25-26 in Davenport, Iowa. Don’t worry though, Fashion and Flea will be back in Texas on Apr. 11.

• Memorable people and service
• Attention-grabbing items
• Lively music which brightens up the event
• A bit cramped; could be moved to a bigger area
• Tickets had to be purchased; bad for the frugal person [/tab] [/tabbed_section]