From À LA MODEST
Christmas and New Year’s are coming up, and it’s that time of the year to spend (time and money) on others instead of yourself. However, you don’t want your personal low budget to rain on your wanting to show how festive you are as a fashionista. What do you do? If your hands can knit or sew, you upcycle. If you have a good eye but not hands, you go thrifting. If you are any of these but don’t have the patience or time to make something or look through racks of old clothing, you turn online for vintage or unique dresses.
So, here you are! Your quick and easy guide to doing just that—buying used and affordable but unique dresses on the web!
Etsy
Most of us still think that eBay has the best deals. That’s not always the case. When I used to sell on eBay, what I thought was just going to sell for double the price I started the auction for turned out to be way more valuable than I initially expected. On Etsy, there is no bidding. So if you and five others want the same item, it’s on a first come/serve basis. An Etsy seller will not want to jack up the price way more than what their item is selling for on average on eBay, because they know very well that Etsy doesn’t get as much exposure as eBay, so that they don’t want to risk having their items sit in their inventory for a long time.
A lot of Etsy sellers give out discount codes on their social networks too, which you don’t normally see on eBay. I personally think Etsy folks are kinder, so they’re more approachable in terms of haggling.
On Etsy, you can see how many people added the item as their favorite. The higher the number, the more exposure and interest it got. If you care about the buzz you generate from your holiday outfit, this number will help you decide if it will do just that once you have it on. Sometimes however a certain dress can be the loveliest thing you’ve ever laid your eyes on, but it didn’t get many favorites because barely anyone saw it on their search results.
1- Velvet Peplum Peter Pan Collar Houndstooth Dress 1980s
2 – NAEEM KHAN Riazee Nights Saks Fifth Avenue Suzarila – 1980s
3 – Sitwell US Patent Skirt 1940s/1950s
Online rentals
Just like how men can rent suits and tuxes for a wedding, women can rent designer dresses online. Rent the Runway is the real life version of Parks and Rec’s Tom Hannaford’s Rent a Swag, and you can find them and many other online rentals by doing a quick Google search. They have an app that you can download on your phone for on the go rental browsing.
Online consignment shops
I think this is one of the coolest things I’ve found the past year—online consigning. Littlethings.ie is the example I’m going to use for our cheap, used, and unique holiday dresses guide, but they are many others out there as well. You can either sell them your clothes for an agreed price upfront or you can get a higher cut by having them consigned. Most online consignment stores send you a shipping label electronically, and all you have to do is to wrap up your items in a box with that prepaid label.
The awesome thing about online consigning is that you can share your items to your social networks. Your circle of friends combined with their customer base make a good pool of potential buyers for your gently used clothing!
My favorite dresses from Little Things’ website
Where do you find cheap, used, and unique holiday/non-holiday dresses?
* For fancy holiday lingerie gifts for someone special, here’s a 25% OFF code (SHOP NOW) from me for Christine Lingerie
* The giveaway for printed text tights ends 12/20!