A vintage Chanel bag for £40 sounds just too good to be true, or at least like a lot of hunting around on the net. Then we were let in on a retail secret…Could we have found vintage designer heaven? QueensOfVintage sent Rosie Kinchenon a mission to find out more and come back with a pre-loved designer outfit for under £250, without using the internet.
A few weeks ago, a girlfriend let me in on a retail secret and swiftly followed it up with, “…But don’t tell anyone, I don’t want everybody to find out.” Unfortunately for her it provided the ideal solution to my challenge.
The secret was Pandora, my local dress agency. Once convinced that dress agencies catered solely to those over 60 with a fondness for sequins, I was immensely surprised to discover just how wrong I was – and absolutely delighted to uncover such an untapped resource of pre-loved designer pieces.
Since the advent of eBay, the dress agency has been somewhat overlooked. Otherwise known as resale shops, they’ve been around since the early 1900’s, originally selling worn samples from the French and Italian catwalks. These days they sell top end, good quality pre-loved designer pieces that would otherwise be forgotten in the back of people’s wardrobes.
From the beginning dress agencies were frequented by ‘society women’ needing a constant flow of new and original dresses to suit their social lives. Then, as now, discretion is the name of the game. Both those who sell and those who buy from dress agencies are not the sort of people who would want anyone to know it. Except that is, for me.
Since my recent discovery, I have become the proud owner of a pair of pre-loved black leather Chanel boots, knee high, military and very on trend for a mere £200, a Chloe dress (perfect for winter weddings) for £70 and a Luella bag for £40- all in mint condition and none of which my meager finances would have allowed me to buy first hand.
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