Where to Buy, Hire or Sell Designer or Vintage Clothes Online
If you want designer or vintage clothes at a fraction of the cost, the best place to look is online. Check out our guide to the top websites.
For worn-only once bargains got to: clothesagency.com lady Sara Apsley's second hand clothes website is a favourite drop-off site for the inner royal circle, and place to snap up its worn-only-once pieces.
Anyone can log on and purchase items, but there's a small membership fee for those wanting to sell their quality seconds via the website. If you're not particularly net savvy, the site's Top Drawer service will photograph and list your pieces for a small additional fee. Unlike Ebay, there are no bidding wars or dodgy fakes, just good-quality clothing for men, women and children.
For Quality Cast Off go to: gumtree.com With EBay fast becoming an online jumble sale, this trading website has come into its own. Acting as an online classified goods forum, clothes can only be offloaded by being sold for a specific price; there are no ghastly bidding wars to raise your blood pressure. No membership is required to buy or sell from the site, but it is at your own risk, and you can contact vendors independently to ensure a more personal sale.
For Vintage Pieces go to: rokit.co.uk; marymoorevintage.com; c20vintagefashion.co.uk
Many vintage stores now also offer online shopping services, so you don't have to trawl local boutiques for bargains.
Try rokit.co.uk for great leather jackets and vintage jeans, which are photographed on mannequins so that you can get a good idea of their shape.
For party dresses, check out marymoorevintage.com for their extensive range of 1940s to 80s designer frocks, and c20vintagefashion.co.uk for Ossie Clark and Biba classics.
Also, check out frockmevintagefashion.com for dates of London's hottest vintage fashion fair, Frock Me! At London's Chelsea Town Hall.
For Designer Discounts go to: secretsamplesale.co.uk
fashionistas in the know sign up to this site for information on where to pick up bargains from the likes of Marc Jacobs ans Stella McCartney. It also lists the best designer sales in London, where prices are up to 80% lower than in shops. For more bargain shopping tips, go to designerwarehousesales.com for details abouttheir sales, held 12 times a year in London, where you can find cut-price items by Vivienne Westwood and Missoni among others.
For Items to hire go to: handbaghirehq.co.uk; Bentley-skinner.co.uk
If you’re fickle about fashion, hiring accessories is a cost-effective way to maintain your street cred. To possess an it-bag (Albeit on a weekly or monthly basis), check out these bag-lending websites for Louis Vuitton totes and Chanel clutches (these are monthly membership fees, plus the cost of hire.)
If rocks are your thing, log on to royal jewellers Bentley & Skinner’s website for a necklace or tiara available at just one per cent of its value. But remember that you have to guarantee that you can cover the full cost of the item before the loan is approved!
French Vintage Online:
LebazarParisien.com Caroline Daily Mamz'Elle Swing
French Vintage Shops:
Vintage Haute Couture
20-24, galerie Montpensier
Paris 1er. Tel : 01 42 96 06 56
La petite robe noire
125, galerie de Valois
Paris 1er. Tel : 01 40 15 01 04
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