A Fashion Week Inspired Vintage and Secondhand Roundup

thoughts on "making it", fashion week, and a giant round-up of vintage and secondhand finds inspired by the fall 2024 runways

Somewhere between 20-minutes-into-sustained-interval-torture-in-a-45-minute-Peloton-Sweat-Steady-thoughts, waiting-for-the-conditioner-to-do-its-job shower thoughts, and finding-the-cold-side-of-the-pillow-before-drifting-off-to-sleep thoughts, I usually find the time to fully form an award winning narrative of my inner most elaborate daydream distraction.

They aren’t earth shattering in creativity, really. They involve the usual trifecta of achieving extreme amounts of capitalistic “success”, a little bit of fame, and a hint of dunking on my haters.

Which is funny because I also feel like those are all thoughts and feelings that directly contradict a lot of what I talk about in this space. Nuanced thoughts, and all that jazz.

I think this specifically gets complicated when it comes to the world of fashion.

For most of my life I’ve wanted to be in the space of clothing, textiles, and styling but have felt that punch-in-the-gut feeling time and time again when I’ve been passed up for jobs, felt totally uncool, been seen as “poor”, surrounded by mean girls, and stuck in an environment so toxic it’s impossible to rise up the ranks of success.

But that’s also when I think “oh, that’s a little silly” when you look at the Trash Panic of it all.

I want that childhood daydream, that success, that “look Ma, I made it!” moment, but I also decently hate the state of fashion in the modern age (and what really is “making” it, y’know?) It all feels gimmicky in the most cringey of ways. Oversaturated with viral stunts, wasteful set design, a hefty carbon footprint and honestly, there’s just something so dystopian about everyone watching the models (walking mere inches away from them!!) through the screens on their phones. It’s like the ick I feel when Silicon Valley tech turds wear those dumb VR goggles.

But that also doesn’t take away my want to be included in it? Who would say no to being offered the VIP treatment, the eliteness and the swag? But then I have to step back and think about the morals, the ethics, the Trash Panic and wonder where I fit into it. And it feels messy and complicated and human and something that I don’t think we discuss enough in the picture perfect facade the internet has created. That uncomfortable middle of realizing that a lot of things, even the things we want most, are all part of some problem in some way.

Y’know? Just a peek into my trying-to-be-concise, just-scratching-the-surface feels on the tug of war that my brain has every day about “making it” while also wanting to be punk rock, middle fingers up and say fuck no we won’t go!!!

On that note, I wanted to dive into some of my favorite looks from the fall 2024 runways and share some secondhand, vintage, antique, pre-loved finds I’ve found that evoke similar vibes and feels. This fashion week didn’t really inspire all that much, which I think also says something about where design is at in the algorithmic churn of creating, producing, and pushing, pushing, pushing.

I think perusing what’s walking down runways is a great exercise in gut checking your personal style inclinations and seeing what shows up as a pattern of attraction. It’s so easy to fall into trend cycles when we see the same few pieces and styles over and over again in our feeds — it can be hard to read between the sponcon and figure out what speaks to us as a reflection of who we are and what’s just really good advertising. My open tabs definitely include pops of red, mesh ballet slippers, and denim skirts — I’m guilty of it, too!

I’ve been unpacking this week and have managed to fill two garbage bags with more things I’d like to donate. It’s been a sobering and frustrating reminder that fast fashion only fills a void for so long, thrifting something just because it’s cheap isn’t worth it, and designer dupes because you can’t afford the “real” thing might not be the move. Which is a whole other aspect of looking to fashion week for inspiration.

I see so many people wearing head to toe designer and can’t help but have morbid curiosity as to what their credit card bill looks like. And also, why do we equate style and status with wearing luxury clothing? While inflation has skyrocketed the cost of living in most categories for most humans, the inflation in the fashion industry is absolutely batshit banana pants for things that haven’t changed in fabrication or quality. While I feel like some designer brands have something that feels “worth” the hefty price tag in design and quality, there’s a lot of things that just aren’t. No one should be paying $1000 for viscose or polyester or for those churned out, cheesy, overly contrived pieces that get duped over and over again until you realize you were suckered into ever wanting it. (And a big huge eye roll to those “fashion” Substacks just pumping out affiliate links for every single new arrival across every luxury platform, ahem.)

While I look forward to being in a position to add more luxury goods to my wardrobe, there will absolutely never be a need to *add to cart* Net-a-Porter’s entire new arrivals list. Just because something has a designer tag, does not make it good or an investment. (I’ll dive deeper into that next month with a new series where I highlight a handful of first hand pieces I think are worth the price tag.)

Okay, enough about that. Let’s get to the goods.

---

Despite being a huge Miu Miu and Miuccia fan, I didn’t love love love this collection but I do think it has a lot of vintage inspired pieces that are an easy gateway into introducing vintage silhouettes into your wardrobe in a modern way. Everything linked feels like something that would get a lot of wear/works for multiple seasons.

pearl necklace / doctor bag / cream dress / fur coat / peacoat / leather gloves / monk strap shoes / brown mini dress / rhinestone brooches / navy wool coat

I love love loved the vibes here. It’s punk, it’s classic, it’s collegiate, and everything feels oversized in just the perfect way. I think the hint of sparkle really seals the deal.

fur coat / plaid blazer / yellow button down / houndstooth skirt / t-strap heels (they’re firsthand J. Crew but on sale and something I think is worth buying!) / rhinestone necklaces / brown leather bomber / sequin duster / silver mini dress / red cardigan / white leather purse

Jil Sander is one of my favorite luxury brands because the silhouettes and color palettes always feel effortlessly cool. I would highly recommend a dive into quilted house coats for that perfect oversized statement coat feel.

aubgergine sweatshirt / aubergine suit pants / vintage skull cap hat / silver mesh necklace / jil sander heels / green fur coat / green leather jacket / pink quilted house coat / pink rodarte dress

I couldn’t not include this couture collection. While I know most of us aren’t runway walking the streets in our most majestic costume-esque garb, I think pulling some of the more classic items and working them into looks that skew a little more whimsical is the way to go.

suede jacket / striped trousers / leather corset belt / polka dot scarf / milliners bird accessory / sheer white dress / margiela boots / woven lace straw hat / ripped sweater / corset / sheer dress

Whew!! I had a million more to include but time has gotten away from me! Do you want to see more? Let me know in the comments or as always, you can reply to this email.

I promise I will be more consistent as I settle into our home here — BUT! I want to hear from you. What do you want to see more of in this space? Interiors? Clothes? Styling? Do you want to hear about how I’m renovating our home with mostly vintage stuff and making it work with what we have? Do you want inspiration for getting dressed? Tell me tell me!

As always, I’m grateful you’re here and would love if you would share this with someone you think will enjoy it.

Until next week,
xo,
G