Vinyl on the Side

Being a vinyl gourmand, I love nothing more than the smorgasbord of a record shop devoted solely to the spinning platter. But shops that serve up vinyl not as an entrée but a side dish can be quite tasty too. Take Dress Code, a funky vintage clothing and tchotchke emporium in Southsea, England, my new stomping grounds. Its slogan is “Fine and Fabulous Shit,” and that’s a pretty spot-on tagline. Among the denim jackets, band T-shirts, anime accessories and skull-centric jewelry, you’ll find a small but super-hip stash of used LPs. The emphasis is on ‘80s new wave and alternative—if your Siouxsie and the Banshees album collection is lacking, look no further. PIL, Japan, and Ultravox are also well-represented, plus there are a few surprising outliers including a handful of Lynyrd Skynyrd records and, on my visit at least, the terrible, horrible, no-good soundtrack to the “Sgt. Pepper” movie. (George Burns, tsk-tsk.) I snapped up a rad promo compilation of covers, in near-mint condition, for £8, slightly more than the Discogs median price, but whatevs. (See photos below.) I’ve got my eye on a couple of those Siouxise LPs, so I’ll be back soon and I know Dress Code will become one of my regular haunts. But I’ll probably pass on the skull necklaces. I could never pull off that look.