What is your best vintage purchase ever?

So, post Black Friday hysteria and with the X-Mas sale around the corner, I find myself more interested than ever in not buying new, but giving old pieces new life. It’s a cliché I know.

I’ve made a change in my shopping behavior this year and it has been easier than I thought. I looked over how much I spent on high street fashion and took those money and decided that in 2019 I’ll spend them on vintage instead. And as soon as I just wrote it down on my phone (to remember you know, I forget a lot of things I promise myself, like start exercising) I started thinking twice about what I almost bought.

And not only did I find a new kind of joy when getting dressed, I also found a new community. Because vintage shopping is not something one only do, it’s kind of a life style.

It’s like when people are having babies and all of a sudden their life (and instagram feed) is just about their child! It’s crazy! All they talk about is what the baby do and doesn’t do and how amazing it is. I find shopping vintage and doing once-in-a-life bargains to have the same effect on people.

Or is it just me?

However I do realize it’s not that easy to do it, as it is for to writing it, to find those good pieces that makes you feel like a new mother. So I asked a couple of my favorite vintage treasure hunters how they do it and where they find it.

Ella Karberg, Copenhagen

Tell me your best vintage buy?

Over the past couple of years I have created a bigger collection of favorite vintage pieces. I don’t think I have one absolute favorite… I do have many pieces that I know I’ll never get rid of. One of the pieces is this unique no brand beige leather jacket, which I got when I visited a small town in upstate New York.

The jacket itself is quite unique and spectacular, but it’s more the story behind it and where I got the jacket that makes it one of my absolute favorites.I love the fact that I without a doubt know that I will never see another person with the exact same jacket, therefore it won’t become mainstream the same way as other fashion brand pieces.

I got it in a retro vintage store in Catskills (upstate New York).They had the most amazing vintage pieces from high end brands to no brand clothing (I spent around 3 hours in there hehe).

Follow Ella here.

Where do you find the best vintage?

I absolutely love exploring different vintage boutiques when I’m abroad and can easily spend hours/days looking for new and interesting vintage boutiques.When I’m in Copenhagen, I actually do most of my vintage shopping on either Etsy or eBay. Especially in December and the cold months where I’m to lazy to pull myself out of bed.

Hannah Eklund, Stockholm

On her favorite vintage catch

A Missoni raffia bag in blue. I had been searching for it for a very long time.

I love it because it makes every outfit more quirky and playful. But I love it even more for the compliments I get for it, mostly from guys (??). I’ve never had anything in my wardrobe that guys find fun and interesting like that… it’s very strange?

Where did you find it?

I got it at Vestiaire Collective. I know it’s the obvious answer to say that it’s my favorite place to shop vintage, but I have so many alerts there and it’s so easy. But if I must say a physical place, it’s a bit far away though, I always find something spectacular at Rag Tag in Tokyo. It’s an insanely great vintage store, especially for high end luxury brands.

Follow Hannah here.

Anna Sarlvit, Copenhagen

Your best vintage catch?

I definitely think my best vintage catch is my cognac Chanel bag that I bought about 1,5 year ago. 

I saw the bag on someone on Instagram and immediately fell in love with it. Problem was that it doesn’t really have a name so I spent a very very long time trying to find it on online vintage shops. I bought it the minute I finally found it on Vestiaire Collective and I’ve worn it almost everyday since! 

Why do you shop vintage?

I love to buy vintage pieces because it’s amazing to have something that not everyone has and wears. For me vintage clothes really encourages creativity and I love that it’s not about buying something from a certain brand. Also, I love the fact that it’s sustainable and at the same time won’t break the bank compared to buying everything as brand new.

Follow Anna here.

Linn Eklund, Stockholm

What is your best vintage find?

My best vintage found is absolutely my purple Chanel bag. It’s the classic flap bag but in wool and the color is freaky bold. You can see it from miles away. Although I wouldn’t say I bought it since I got it as a Christmas gift from my mom, but I did send her the link from Vestiaire Collective as a hint and let’s just say she took it.

Why vintage and not new?

Lots of reasons, one being that there are so many already produced things, so why buy new you know? Plus I love things with a history. It’s so cool to think about how fun a piece have had before it even became mine.

Another great aspect of vintage and second hand shopping is how it effect your style. It become unique in a totally different way than if you only buy the new and the latest.

Learn form the pro’s

1. Create alerts on your favorite online vintage websites! And be specific in a lot of ways. Sometimes people forget to write the obvious attributes because they think people can see it on the images, but duh search engines don’t care about images.
2. Do the same with the vintage Instagram accounts you follow!
3. Do a mood board. Hello? No this isn’t 2007 calling. It’s cool to mood board, it helps you from walking into traps of PMS and “it looked good in the store”.
4. Still not up for a mood board? Get yourself some leading words instead. Like Miu Miu Cruise 2020 or Old Céline. Does the things you find fit into your frame of lead words? Buy it. No? Leave it.
5. Don’t be so anxious. I know that saying this is like the meme of the guy saying no don’t kill yourself you’re so sexy, but seriously, if you like it, wear it.

Wanna read more? Go look at our online vintage guide.