A couple of weeks ago I attended a re-cycle fashion event held in my home town of Chelmsford in Essex. You were asked to take along any clothes that you no longer loved and wore anymore. They had to be a good condition, no buttons missing or broken zips that sort of thing. It was advertised as guilt free shopping!! Have you ever bought pre-loved fashion before? Did it work for you for? I am going to share with you my recent experience.
Have you ever bought pre-loved fashion before?
With me I took, a pair of Clarke’s shoes that I had hardly worn, a lovely brown suede skirt that sadly I can no longer get into, a black cocktail dress and a green sweat top. For that I received four tokens which I could swap for another four items. There was everything there from dresses, blouses, skirts trousers, coats you name it. The items came from a variety of shops too, ranging from Primark, Zara to Planet. All the items were in good condition, it was just a question as to whether it was in your size or not.
What did I come away with?
On this occasion I was lucky that I managed to find some things that I liked in my size. I came away with three items. Firstly, this lovely green summer jumper from Planet. It still had the labels on and had never been worn. This I will wear with either some White Linen Trousers, or my Navy Capri Pants. The back of the jumper has these lovely sparkly bits which makes a lovely evening top. We are going away in December to somewhere hot, so this will make a great evening outfit.
Have you ever bought pre-loved fashion before?
My husband and I have started cruising and we love to have the opportunity to dress up. I had been looking for a new dress to take with me this time. Look what I found. Black is not usually a colour I go for, as it is too harsh for my warm skin tone, but this does have some colour on it. It will need to be altered as it is a little big under the arms.
These plain black bra straps I will change for these lovely sparkly ones. (You can find similar on eBay and Amazon). With the dress I will wear a bright coloured pair of shoes, by picking out one of the colours in the dress. Probably the orange, as I do have some orange sandals. A bright coloured necklace to shine up onto my face. Finishing off with a clutch bag.
Guilt free shopping
The third thing was a cotton summer dress in a beautiful turquoise blue. This is from Oasis and also had the labels on. It had been bought in the sale, but not worn. Not sure what I am going to be doing with this. It is a size 14 ( I normally wear a 12). and slightly big in the bust area. Also a little shorter than I normally wear. (I am tall with long legs). Perhaps, I could add some material on the bottom of the dress, some lace in the same colour, or some material in a contrasting colour. Or, I may just save this till the next swishing event in January and take it back and swap for something else.
Have you ever bought pre-loved fashion before?
Would I go again? Yes, I would. It is very much luck of the draw as to what is available on the night in your size. The items I took along I was no longer wearing and were too good to give away. I don’t really have the time to sell myself on line. If you have a set of friends who are all a similar size it might be worth getting together and swapping some clothes between you. Other ways to buy pre-loved of course, are at Dress Agencies, Charity Shops and various online outlets.
Have you ever bought pre-loved or second hand fashion items? Let me know how you got on and drop me a message or comment below.
My name is Sandra and I am colour and style coach based in Chelmsford Essex. Colour is my passion and I love to help ladies find out which colours best suit them. This can be very liberating, giving ladies confidence to be the very best version of themselves and make great changes in their lives.
Why not click over to my website now www.colourworx.me for more details.
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