How Resale Market Have Become ‘Trendy' Again

The best pre-loved fashion is no longer discovered only in IRL. Today’s savviest fans are finding everything from vintage Alaïa to Zara in all corners of the digital shopping space, writes Ellie Pithers

- Ellie Pithers

THE BEST ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS make you want to be the woman on the billboard. In 2013, I wanted to be Daria Werbowy in a pink, roll-top bath, naked save for a rhinestone-studded collar necklace and bracelets, in Céline’s spring campaign.

I dreamt about that sparkling choker, specifically, for months, though it was wildly unaffordable—upwards of £2,000 (over ₹2,00,000)—on my peanut salary as a fashion reporter. Years later, when its creator Phoebe Philo announced she was leaving the brand in 2017, I thought of the necklace again. Curious to see if I could track one down, I hit Google. Fifteen minutes later, I had unearthed a German seller on the French resale website Vestiaire Collective, who was willing to part with theirs for £481.37 (₹48,650), complete with its dust bag and original box. Reader, I bought it. And then I bragged about it. “It’s spring/ summer 2013,” I told admirers who enquired as to the necklace’s origin at a Vogue party.