If, like me, you love designer label clothing and accessories but can’t afford scary Sloane Street price tags there are other ways to get your hot little hands on them without paying the full retail price (and I don’t mean shop-lifting). I have noticed that high-end goods have rocketed upwards in price in the last few years, with shoes in particular easily costing upwards of seven hundred pounds for a pair, which would have cost two to three hundred pounds five years ago. According to my economics advisor (my husband) this is the retailers’ strategy for compensating for falling volume of sales due to recession. (i.e, sell less goods but for more money as the very wealthy can still afford them.)
I like to buy designer clothes and shoes but very rarely pay full retail price for them, (well, ok, I will admit to the occasional pair of irresistible Jimmy Choos) especially since I read the book Fashion Babylon by Imogen Edwards – Jones – a really good read if you are interested in fashion, which lifts the lid on the fashion industry. I realised that the latest must-have bag costs the manufacturer about 10 percent of the retail price to actually produce – this completely changed my view on what I was prepared to pay, even if I absolutely loved the item in question.
The super-sized price tags reflect expensive advertising campaigns, glossy stores in fashionable areas with massive rents, staff wages and many other overheads, which perhaps you do not want to subsidise just to get your hands on the latest designer dress. My solution to this is hunt for “nearly-new” designer outfits. You can pick up lovely pieces either on eBay or at the designer dress agencies, which have popped up all over London. The best ones are usually in the most exclusive areas of town where wealthy women wear a dress once or twice and then get rid of it. The biggest of these shops with the best choice is Pandora Dress Agency in Cheval Place SW7 (www.pandoradressagency.com). You can buy gorgeous clothes worn once or twice or sometimes even unworn. I have spent many a happy hour there rifling through the rails like a pig searching out a prize truffle.
I recently bought a gorgeous and classic Michael Kors cashmere skirt suit with the store label still on for £400, less than a third of the retail price. I love how the clothing is all arranged according to size, so you can go through a whole rack, which hopefully fits you; none of that seeing something you like in a shop only to discover your size is sold out. Thanks to the fairly recent trend of models and celebs wearing vintage, buying second hand clothes has lost any stigma it may have once had and is really a form of recycling, so everyone’s a winner (to quote Del Boy).
To read the full article in the Clapham Clipper please click here.