People assume this wardrobe is expensive and it is genuinely one of the cheapest things about my life. The plaid skirt everyone asks about cost about six pounds. What it cost in was time and a willingness to take things in, which is a skill I have at roughly a beginner level and it has still saved me hundreds.
Search by shape, not by brand
This is the whole trick and it took me embarrassingly long to work out. Searching a brand name on a resale app puts you in competition with everyone else searching that brand name, and the prices reflect it. Searching a shape — 'pleated mini', 'mesh long sleeve', 'cropped leather' — puts you in front of everything nobody else has thought to look for.
The listings you want are the badly photographed ones with no brand in the title, taken on a bed in bad light by somebody clearing out a wardrobe. Those are cheap because they are invisible to brand searches, and half of my favourite things came out of exactly that kind of listing.
Save the searches and check them for a couple of minutes a day rather than trawling for an hour once a fortnight. Good listings go quickly, and the advantage is entirely about being early rather than about looking harder.
What to check before you buy
Measurements, always, and against something you already own rather than against a size label. Sizing is meaningless across decades and brands, and 'fits a size 10' from a stranger tells you nothing. Lay out a garment that fits you, measure it flat, and compare numbers.
For second-hand specifically: ask about the underarms and the hems, which is where wear shows first and where photographs never look. Ask whether anything has been altered already. Most sellers are honest if asked directly and evasive if there is a problem, and the evasion is easy to read.
Leather and boots are the exception to buying cheap — those are worth paying for second-hand from a good brand, because they last decades and can be resoled. I have had the same boots resoled twice and they are the best value thing I own by an enormous margin.
Three alterations that change everything
Taking in the side seams. A garment that is one size too big and has been taken in fits better than one that was your size to start with, because it has been fitted to you specifically. This is the easiest thing to learn and it is what makes cheap clothes look expensive.
Shortening a hem. Most of what I own has been cropped, and a hem is a straight line, which is the easiest sewing there is. A too-long top becomes the right length in twenty minutes and nobody can tell.
Replacing buttons and hardware. A perfectly good second-hand jacket with cheap plastic buttons looks cheap because of the buttons and nothing else. Four pounds of hardware and an evening changes the entire garment, and this is the alteration with the best ratio of effort to result by a distance.
Building it so it actually works together
Pick a narrow palette and stay in it. Almost everything I own is black, white, or one of about three greys, which is why any two things I own go together and why getting dressed takes no time. A wardrobe of individually brilliant pieces that do not speak to each other is how you end up with nothing to wear.
Buy the boring things new and the interesting things second-hand. Plain long sleeves, basic tights, anything that touches skin and wears out — new, cheap, replaced regularly. The statement pieces, the outerwear, the things with character — second-hand, patiently, because those are the ones nobody makes any more.
And be honest about what you actually wear. I have a small pile of things I bought because they were perfect and have worn once, and every one of them was bought quickly. The things I wear constantly were all bought slowly, after thinking about it, usually after losing a similar listing and waiting for another.
Search by shape, check measurements against something real, learn to take a side seam in, keep the palette narrow, and spend money only on leather and boots. That is the entire system and it costs less than one fast-fashion order a month.
Come see what it all looks like properly ✦
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