The Thrill Of Sourcing Vintage Designer Fashion My Teenage Self Never Got Over

An old adage says that it takes some 10,000 hours to become a bona fide expert at something. While I can barely string a sentence together in French, have zero sporting ability, and never learned how to drive, at least there’s one pursuit where I have gone pro: sourcing fashion items my teenage self never got over. 

In the mid-late aughts, the Windows desktop computer that sat in the kitchen of my family home became a portal to a world far glossier than my day-to-day reality in a seaside town in Ireland. When I made my way home from school, before the rest of my siblings would pile in and I’d be forced to study or do chores, there was a sacred sliver of time where all was still.  

Free to go down any Google rabbit hole, I’d pop some Deadmau5 or MGMT on my iPod Mini and revel in an hour of designer discovery and fashion bliss. I’d indulge in a quick read of Perez Hilton to see what the It Girls of Soho and West Hollywood were up to — yearning for their Alexander McQueen skull scarves, Chloé Paddington bags, and Yves Saint Laurent Arty rings. I’d continue my whistlestop tour of the web with a scroll through Blogger, Tumblr, and Lookbook.NU, and, if time obliged, I’d pray the latest episode of Gossip Girl or Ugly Betty was available (on LimeWire, naturally) to momentarily beam me into Manhattan. 

Probably due to this ongoing secret hour of style sleuthing, I even began dreaming about moving to New York City to work at a fashion magazine. Motivated, I made it my business to immerse myself in Style.com reviews, diligently saving runway images I was inspired by on various Pinterest boards.

Even though it’s been the better part of two decades, many of the outfits and items that initially caused my heart to sing during those days remain etched into my memory.

Sometime in 2018, several years into my career as, yes, a fashion writer living in the U.S., I was absentmindedly scrolling through The RealReal when I clapped eyes on the one — the one that, aged 15, I promised myself I would wear for my wedding. Modeled by Lily Donaldson in the Roberto Cavalli Spring/Summer 2008 show, this champagne silk baby doll maxi dress with watercolor-style flowers cascading down its side had imprinted itself onto my cerebral cortex one day as I sat in my school uniform in Dublin, and its appeal never faded for a second. A decade later, I clicked “purchase” on the unworn, still-tagged dress with the same sense of urgency that I felt as a teen with limited, fleeting moments to be transported somewhere else through fashion. 

Over the last seven years, that hallowed runway find has not only moved across the country with me and dangled from rails in closets in five different apartments (not to mention, seen some questionable romantic relationships that, thankfully, didn’t end in a trip down the aisle), it served as a reminder that the pieces I once fawned over are all just a fateful keyword search away. As my friends get into things like pickleball or pottery, this has become my choice of adult hobby.  

In March, when I blew out 33 candles on the cake, I did so in a black-and-gold embellished halterneck mini, this time from the Roberto Cavalli Spring/Summer 2007 collection. I’d copped it on The RealReal a few years ago after having flashbacks of Victoria Beckham wearing it at the height of her WAG heyday. On the night, without even meaning to lean into the Y2K of it all, I styled it with a vintage zebra print clutch from Jimmy Choo and vintage beaded gladiator stilettos by Giuseppe Zanotti. As I surveyed the final look in the mirror, I smiled to myself, thinking that 2007 me would lose her mind to know that these pieces came from her own closet. Oh, and my birthday gift to myself this year? A hard-to-find Yves Saint Laurent chunky Arty cuff from Stefano Pilati’s time at the helm circa 2009 that showed up on eBay. It took almost a month to arrive from a seller in Eastern Europe, but some things are worth the wait, as evidenced by the fact that it was on one of those Pinterest wishlist boards I had made 12 years earlier.  

Last year, my birthday frock made its way to me in Manhattan from the South of France: an ombré waterfall dress with a Grecian-style breastplate from Peter Dundas’ bohemian dream of a Spring/Summer 2015 collection for Pucci. (I’m still thankful I was doing an insomnia-fueled deep dive one night, as pieces from his tenure are rare to come across on resale.) Other pat-on-the-back moments include finding an emerald green-and-silver Chanel mini dress that Sienna Miller wore to host a dinner for the label at the Chateau Marmont in 2004; a runway look from Frida Giannini’s Fall/Winter 2009 offering for Gucci; a version of a stunning Matthew Williamson halter-neck gown worn by Blair Waldorf on an episode of Gossip Girl in 2010; and a mint-condition camisole that was the opening look from Phoebe Philo’s Spring/Summer 2005 outing for Chloé. 

Of course, knowing that you’re contributing to a circular economy is a nice virtuous addition to this enterprise. But I am more driven by the desire to prioritize quality pieces that will remain in my closet forever. Bonus: It feels like I’m cheating the system financially. That aforementioned Matthew Williamson dress cost an estimated $4,000 in 2010. My Vestiaire Collective bill came to $123.10, including shipping from England. The Chloé cami? $144.78, versus the $2k+ price tags hanging on the current season tops. God bless Poshmark for that one.

Beyond cost, in my pursuit of the clothes and accessories I once cared about so much, I feel like I’ve developed a layer of individuality to my personal style as an adult. By the looks of things, there’s a growing number of fashion-loving millennials shopping in the same nostalgia-fueled way. According to data provided by eBay, global searches for “2010s” are up by more than 30% year-over-year. What are they hunting for? Strap in for some whiplash-inducing time-traveling. A spokesperson for eBay says that Isabel Marant wedge sneakers have seen a staggering 430% increase in interest this year. Also re-emerging in a big way are Marc Jacobs-designed Louis Vuitton items (searches are up nearly 100%), Cavalli (up by 120%), Stella McCartney’s Falabella bag (up 135%), Hervé Léger bandage dresses (up 80%), Riccardo Tisci-era Givenchy (up 70%), Stuart Weitzman Highland boots (up 45%), Philo-era Céline Luggage tote (up 40%), and, gulp, American Apparel disco pants, which have seen a 30% rise in searches.  

Ready to find the one that — you thought — got away? Don’t be afraid to set up multiple saved search terms on the pre-loved and consignment platforms you use. Get specific, but also use broad keywords, as some sellers may not know what they are offloading is niche or from a certain designer’s tenure. For those who like to cast a wide net, Gem, a marketplace that pools results from a wide array of sites in one convenient feed, should be on your radar. It often pays off to wait it out, too. On sites like Poshmark and eBay, if you "heart" an item, the vendor will typically send you a discount or incentive to purchase, such as free shipping or a percentage off. Meanwhile, on The RealReal, product starts to get marked down within a couple of weeks, if you’re willing to play the long game. 

If you know when new drops take place, it’s smart to set up an alert or be vigilant with the "new in" section. On TheRealReal, product drops every day, at 10 A.M. EST and 7 P.M. EST. I check out their app more than Instagram or TikTok most mornings and evenings.

“There are thousands of pieces uploaded twice a day,” confirms Noelle Sciacca, The RealReal’s associate director of fashion and strategic partnerships. “The rate at which things sell depends on how covetable it is right now. We’ve been seeing all of these creative director changes, so anytime something like that happens, pieces become collector’s items.”

According to Sciacca, the platform also has a curated section personalized to shoppers. “It creates an edit based on learned behavior: what you’re ‘obsessing’ [editor note: favoriting] and what kind of brands and pieces you’re shopping for,” she says. The resale site also boasts a “Rare Finds” tab: “That could be everything from a special runway piece from a moment in time that is iconic or nostalgic, or something that a celebrity once wore. I was recently looking, and there’s a Moschino bag that Fran Drescher wore on The Nanny.” 

For those on the pursuit of happiness in the form of a status symbol of yore, Sciacca says that beyond setting up your saved searches, always be sure to go on the waitlist for similar pieces that have sold in case they are reconsigned by the algorithm or purchaser. Take her unwavering commitment to finding Miu Miu’s glitter boots from 2011 or old Céline two-tone Madame boots, for example. “They have such a hold on me,” she admits.

Forget healing your inner child. These days, it seems as if we’re all getting our retail therapy in the form of dressing our inner teenager.