Buy Vintage, Stay...Wealthy?

A recent Yahoo headline article listed the top five reasons wealthy people stay wealthy. Reason number five? Wealthy people pay less than they have to for things they want. An obvious answer, but interestingly enough the article gave buying pre-owned vintage couture clothing as the example of how wealthy women save money—many women who have the money to pay retail prices for luxury designer fashion choose instead to save money by buying vintage and pre-owned pieces.

And when you think about it, does it really matter if the piece is pre-owned—worn once or twice if at all? To some it matters, but the reality is that with some of the big retailers you never really know if you’re buying a “new” piece from them anyway. These retailers take back anything for returns, re-tag the item if it looks like it’s still in halfway decent shape, and stick it back on the sales floor as though it had been there the entire time. Meanwhile, the piece had actually been worn out on the dance floor, at the restaurant, at the gala…because let’s face it, unfortunately we all know at least one of those women—women who unethically buy high-end clothes, wear them, then return them, only to complete the cycle all over again. And who wants to be paying retail prices for someone else’s returns???

Desperately Seeking Simplicity...Three Signs it's Time to Dump Your Current Wardrobe

1. Your clothes are uncomfortable. Has Miss Polly Ester become your best friend? No one wants to wear a ton of polyester which is derived from compounds of alcohol and acids. Who wants to wear that on their skin? And ladies you know that half of the clothes found in the mall are…polyester. A piece or two or three in your wardrobe is not a problem…but if your wardrobe is uncomfortable--polyester filled or not-- it’s time to dump it. And we’re not talking about where you’re uncomfortable in a good way where you’re having a great night out in a dress that’s so tight that you can’t breathe but it feels and looks great anyway so you don’t care if you’re squeezing a lung. We’re talking about that uncomfortable feeling where if most of the clothes in your closet make you feel icky or unattractive in any way. If this is the case, get rid of them. Buy some pieces made of natural fibers instead. Be sure to give your clothes to charity when you clean out your closet. Less is more!

2. Your clothes all seem to lean toward one particular decade. We know we’re exaggerating a bit here, as most of us don’t completely create a wardrobe from a certain decade, but has anyone said something to you like “I remember I had an outfit kind of like that when we went to see Depeche Mode”? It’s perfect if you can mix vintage pieces with modern apparel so you have your own style, but there are those of us that sometimes fall into the trap of dressing in the decade that was enjoyed the most--an homage to good times, for sure, but also an homage to extra large shoulder pads, neon “Choose Life” shirts and socks with pumps? One of our favorite decades would probably be the 80s, but we wouldn’t want people to look at us and think “that outfit reminds us of that movie ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ or she looks just like ‘Flashdance’”.

3. You’ve fallen for the vanity sizing marketing gimmicks of current mass merchandisers. With the exception of high-end designers, most manufacturers these days engage in “vanity sizing” where they label jeans a size 4, but in reality the jeans are a size 8. So what happens is you’re so excited that you finally fit into a size 4 that you buy the jeans even though they don’t look that great, and then you get to tell yourself, and all of your friends, that you’ve finally fit into a size 4. These mass merchandisers want you to come back again and again for that feel-good self-esteem boost of a smaller size that you get with their too-trendy and lower-quality clothes. Instead, try purchasing a few higher-end designer clothes pieces where you might wear a larger size but where you’ll come home with higher quality. The bottom line is who cares what size you wear? As long as the item fits and makes you feel good, buy it. Buy the item, not the size.