switchblade grass

[meikuree]

doing some indulgent fashion blogging as a palate cleanser for my brain, because I've survived A Month. I've been getting into the ridiculous rabbit hole of fabrics, r/BuyItForLife (a sub where people discuss brands and products made to last), and lots of window browsing on Vinted.

vinted's like a european ebay, except with a much better and sanity-preserving UI. the user demographic also tends towards older married women with children, who all have the amazing habit of selling clothes from premium brands for outrageously cheap prices, like £5-10 for a dress that cost £120 at retail. i've seen it described as a place for online car boot sales.

a thing about me: I try to buy clothes secondhand where possible, mostly for environmental reasons but also because scoring a good deal is satisfying. so Vinted's been like catnip for me. I used to think I was decent at spotting stuff that’s worth it but lately I’ve also been learning how to discern between high street brands actually "worth" the price and brands that aren’t (maje, sandro, some of aritzia) from videos by jenniferwang et al. I don't agree with everything the so-called "de-influencers" say especially the knee-jerk reasons for their objections to microplastics and synthetic fabrics, but some of them have been helpful resources.

that said, I don’t often buy things from said high street brands. I don’t have the wallet to do that guilt-free, tbh. I just like to ponder them and window shop while balking at them. I also prefer to keep a quantitatively minimalist wardrobe. lately I’ve gotten most of my recent pieces for free from my sister when she passes her clothes to me because she can’t fit or doesn’t want them any more. I still value stuff that's value for money or has a good 'cost-pa', to borrow a Japanese slang phrase, which means 60% of my wardrobe at any time can be Uniqlo and Muji. 

but I did also help a fashionable friend move apartments a while back, and in return she gave me some of her unworn clothes for free, including stuff from brands like Reformation (!!!) and COS. so I’ve had a light-touch look at some brands & their quality. quick rundown of my reviews:

 

& Other Stories: 5/10, mixed. clothes look good but quality’s hit or miss.

• friend gave me a sweater that's gotten me lots of compliments but it's also pilled badly from the wash

COS: 8/10, generally good construction and well-made fabrics. gets recced a lot on r/BIFL. great for staples or basics with an avant-garde twist.

Djerf Avenue: 5.5/10. I'm not impressed. their quality doesn’t seem commensurate with their price.

• my friend offered me a pair of trousers from Djerf and I had no idea at that point that it was one of those ridiculously expensive viral influencer brands. the material seemed cheaply made, so I turned them down. 

Reformation: 6.5/10. sometimes great but quality varies between product categories; material and quality doesn’t always seem commensurate with their prices. 

Babaton/Denim Forum/Aritzia: ?/10. I've two tops from them that've been good so far. but Aritzia's been notorious for wildly varying quality.

Moussy: ?/10. I've a single cardigan that's been nice and has held up so far.

Chi Chi London: 6.5/10. it's alright but not amazing.

House of CB: 5/10. I've seen bad reviews especially about the quality of their fabrics.

Guaja: 7.5/10. their clothes seem well-made. if you can afford their stuff, they're alright, I think. bonus for ethically made clothes, though these days I retain a healthy dose of scepticism about brands' claims for those about that since it can be a smokescreen

Kookai: 6.5/10. I own a pair of pants from them which I love, though the fabric seems a little cheap.

Oliver Bonas: 7/10. seems alright for the price point.

Karen Millen, Ted Baker: grouping together because my opinions are the same and they're like cousin brands. their clothes seem decent, though the quality can vary. they use synthetic fabrics a lot which aren't automatically bad but do make me go "hm..."

Nanga: 8/10. I've a warm coat from them, scored from a thrift shop, that seems like it's going to last. of course, their stuff is usually ~designed for men (there's a saying on r/BIFL that it's so hard to find good brands for BIFL women's clothes because most brands explicitly downgrade their quality for women's lines, lol.)

and some amazing things you can find on Vinted:

• diane von furstenberg dresses for £15-20 (they usually sell for £700 at retail or about £300 discounted). YMMV on the prints, of course. some of them look old-fashioned to me though that might be my uncultured plebeian taste
• Arket: premium Nordic clothing brand, also a r/BIFL fave
• Everlane, Patagonia, Eileen Fisher: other r/BIFL faves. every brand has flops, of course, but Patagonia especially seems great.
• Barbour coats

misc list of other relatively affordable brands recced on r/BIFL that are available in the UK:

• bags: Osprey
• shoes: Clarks (though their quality's dropped apparently)
• rice cookers: Zojirushi. though, lol, the department store rice cooker that's been in my family for 15 years and practically raised me through childhood has also been good.

 

Comments

[luckyzukky]

i'm not very knowledgeable on fashion either but i try to buy secondhand as much as possible too, and if i buy new i try to make sure it's something it'll last. i admire all the learning you've done on the subject!

[meikuree]

Thank you! I come from a family where buying secondhand is seen as a huge shameful thing (which I’ve never understood, esp because thrifting can be fashionable depending on where you are) but, yknow, it can make fashion more accessible. go us!!

[nineveh_uk]

diane von furstenberg dresses for £15-20

BRB, going to look at Vinted. Why have I never looked at Vinted?? I knew they existed. Possibly I thought they were strictly retro. And there they are with a (not DVF) dress that is one I missed and regretted. In my size.

[meikuree]

have fun, and happy finds! Vinted's been my replacement for Instagram/Youtube/all other usual addictive scrolling apps, which can be both good and bad, but it's helping me to save /some/ money. I look on vinted first nowadays if I want to buy something that can probably be found there.

[headstone]

I used to thrift 90% of my clothes and to do it fairly regularly as a hobby activity, as I do like fashion, but transitioning my wardrobe to something where I'd have at least some degree of chance at not being she/her'd constantly + early pandemic + the largest big "warehouse-style" thrift store in my area burning down in suspicious [likely real estate and/or insurances related] circumstances all happened within about a year of each other, and my shopping experiences have never recovered. The landscape of secondhand clothes shopping in my city has definitely changed over the last ten years, mostly toward getting incredibly overpriced and competitive due to the emergence of Depop resellers. It's rough out there.

Patagonia definitely a good BIFL candidate. My area is notoriously athleisure-heavy in fashion and I'm a cycle commuter/outdoorsy sort, so a good amount of my recs for specific brands are from athletic or outdoors brands that I've found to have good quality, like The North Face, Columbia, Cotopaxi, Girlfriend Collective, etc. https://thelasthunt.com/ is great for outlet-style heavily marked down items from similar brands (though lots of what they sell is straight up gear, not just clothes.) I wonder if there's any comparable sites in your region?

[meikuree]

Depop's sale culture seems to universally be The Worst, my sympathies! sadly enough most of the vintage clothes markets where I live are like Depop but IRL in terms of pricing and, let's just say, shady descriptions and/or upselling, so online sites are my refuge now.

the largest big "warehouse-style" thrift store in my area burning down in suspicious [likely real estate and/or insurances related] circumstances

irl lol, but also that must also be so uniquely frustrating! thrifting's a smart way to reinvent your wardrobe otherwise.

the UK has BrandAlley and the Outnet, though I can't speak to how pleasant/wallet-fulfilling those sites are. I've seen Ebay police auctions as a rec for possibly-decent-deals once, of all things -- that was new.