(Trash) Panic! At the Mall! - Part II
vintage and secondhand alternatives to the trendy-fast-fashion-trash-panicky-pieces we all get lured into *adding to cart*
This is a continuation of last week’s newsletter all about my personal take on the abysmal state of in-person mall shopping in 2024. In case you missed it, you can catch up here:
Some of you asked if I could focus on a few of the trendier items that tend to lure us into *adding to cart*, which is something I can definitely relate to when deciding if I want to participate in the new seasonal hotness. So there are an abundance of finds in this week’s email!
Again, I want to reiterate that the conversation around fast fashion is vast, complicated and filled with many intricacies. We’re all doing our best in navigating the complexities that are involved in the flaming garbage can of late stage capitalism and there are plenty of reasons (income, privilege, size inclusivity!!, etc) that people still shop fast fashion. This is simply an exercise in curbing some of those impulsive consumeristic feels when they strike by whipping out your eBay app and diving into a purposeful treasure hunt for that one special thing.
Let’s get into it!
PS. Etsy seems to be down today, so if you’re reading this fresh in your inbox, you may have to refresh the page a few time for the links to load. A reminder that I may earn a small commission if you purchase through my Etsy links.
H&M
I’ll admit I once thought H&M was like really, really cool. But that was back when they were newly Stateside and their claim to fame was a handful of highly anticipated, deeply collectible, decent quality designer capsule collections. (I’ll never forgive myself for accidentally donating my Margiela x HM blazer 😭) At the time, H&M felt fashion forward, but also a little sophisticated, and definitely a lot less Trash Panicky than it does now.
Walking into their store my eyeballs immediately felt assaulted by the overly bright fluorescent spotlights, jam packed clothing racks (one of my absolute retail pet peeves) and bad-Vegas-night-club-DJ mixes choreographed with seizure inducing sexy-dancing-model ads flashing behind the cash wrap. I know plenty of people still shop them irl, but I didn’t see one redeeming quality in the retail experience.
I spent no longer than 15 minutes in the store, annoyed with how everything is a variations of sameness, with price points and fabrications all over the place and merchandising that makes little to no sense. It almost felt like they’re purposefully pushing their sterile, pumped-through-the-production-line merchandise as a marketing tactic, embracing that they’re the store they know you’ll drop $300 at panic shopping for your birthday/graduation/date night/girls trip because you have no other place with so many renditions of “on trend” pieces.
And then to juxtapose this experience alongside their designer debut at the Met Gala, which felt disjointed and cheap in both sentiment and execution. It’s hard to watch a billion dollar fast fashion company claim to go back to their roots considering not only the event, but heavy boasting about sustainable elements of their evening wear designs while pumping out over 3 billion articles of clothing a year.
Shopping their website is almost as confusing as roaming their store, with the back button consistently leading me to an “error page not found” screen and a 50/50 chance of losing my spot on the 78+ pages (!!!) of new arrivals. The styling, ad campaigns and overall vibe leave much to be desired, even if some of their pieces have better fabric quality (a decent amount of 80-100% cotton, linen, silk) and overall construction (even stitch lines, serged seams, secure buttons, etc.)
For everything I touched or looked at, with the addition of some of their trendier, more coveted pieces, I feel like there are plenty of secondhand options that achieve the same look, sit in a similar price point, and will last you much longer.
The Fast Fashion Options
The Secondhand and Vintage Treasures
Please for the love of all that is holy do not buy a trench coat or leather jacket from a fast fashion place when there are SO many incredible vintage ones looking for a new chapter of life!!!! While they might cost more in the short term, your long term cost per wear will make it one of the best investments in your wardrobe, I promise you.
eBay is a treasure trove of well priced vintage leather jackets and Etsy has no shortage of trench coats from every decade and around the world. Miu Miu brought the distressed leather jacket back into the spotlight and I’m sure it will continue to have its moment this fall/winter, so swoop them up now in the warmer seasons while some sellers are offering discounts and sales!
Search: Vintage Trench Coat/Vintage Swing Trench Coat/Vintage Oversized Trench Coat/Vintage Leather Jacket/Vintage Distressed Leather Jacket/Vintage Distressed Bomber Jacket
Note: Make sure to put the word “vintage” and sort by true pre-owned items. There are so many scams out there, particularly with trendy items that get searched for frequently. Always check store reviews and item descriptions!
You could buy two sequin dresses for the price of that H&M one, if you really wanted to. Sequin dresses have been around for decades and while you might have to dig around to find a silhouette you love, there is certainly no shortage of fun options.
I don’t care if you wear a band tee and don’t know a single one of their songs, what I do care about is wearing a graphic or band tee from a fast fashion store!!! There are literally hundreds of thousands of options floating across the internet, flea markets, etc etc. You could spend hours and hours on eBay sifting through all the shirts! And I promise they’re not all $200+ — set a max dollar amount and you will find something! (Also, someone swoop up the twin to my Jane Austen shirt — it’s so rare!!)
Search: Vintage —> Pre-owned/ Band Tee/ Thrashed Tee/Graphic Tee/Art Tee/Novelty Tee
More shell jewelry! I see it popping up everywhere and I’m horrified at how much of it is just cheap crappy plastic molds. Heavy tourism to Hawaii in the 1960s means there is a treasure trove of estate jewelry with real shells and unique craftsmanship to be found in the depths of the internet.
Search: Vintage Shell Jewelry/Mother of Pearl/Freshwater Pearl/Tahitian Pearl/Oyster, Starfish, Conch Shell, Tropical, Tiki/Vintage Hawaiian Jewelry
Free People
I remember as a teenager being so hypnotized with the “Free People Girl” - she was sexy, bohemian, and sun-kissed and despite not having the inclination to really want to be any of those things, she still somehow lured me into her sandy, nonconformist universe with her appropriated harem pants and white girl dreads.
That magic wore off the second I started working at Anthropologie back in the peak Twee days of the early 2010s. Despite having a generous discount at all the URBN brands, I could never find a single thing at Free People that made sense to me. A lot of layering pieces that don’t all quite fit together, funky color ways, and silhouettes that are hard to buy a one off of and make work for any aesthetic (and a 5’0” frame.)
I think they still do a decent job in selling their care-free (but stealthily wealthy) aesthetic-y lifestyle in their catalogs, but the in-store experience continues to feel confusing unless you’re buying a full outfit off of one of their mannequins (or a pair of their very viral barrel jeans.) The budget for the creative visual merchandising at URBN has definitely been slashed over the years, with most of their stores feeling like way too much empty, dusty real estate for the little amount of merchandise they actually carry. Shopping them online seems much more digestible/easier to navigate, but when you break down the elements of every styled outfit, you can easily see that most of the pieces are not unique enough to justify the $98+ price tag, they’re just on a like, really, really, really pretty person.
The Fast Fashion Options
The Secondhand and Vintage Treasures
This falls under the “please for the love of all that is holy don’t do this” category because why would you ever buy a brand new $600 leather/suede fringe jacket when you could buy a worn in, loved, weathered vintage one? The extra long fringe toggle option is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G - literal showstopper. BUY HER. (she’s on sale!!)
A knit polo is the backbone of normcore and is becoming increasingly popular in the “I look so hip and put together even though I just spent all day at the beach” scene and there are many personality-filled ones to be found on eBay that are great colors, perfectly worn in and delightfully retro. While the Fred Perry one is $$$, it’s realllll good. Don’t buy a new one when you can buy a fun one.
Search for: Knit Polo/ Vintage 1960s Polo/Vintage Long Sleeve Polo/Vintage Striped Polo
Wedding guest season is here and I think its safe to say many of us have fatigue from seeing the same dozen or so silhouettes and brands rotate through our sponsored ads. If you’re going to even contemplate a $700 viscose one, I urge you to contemplate a truly collectable vintage one.
The Victor Costa one has been in my bookmarks forever. It is the definition of STUNNING for a summer wedding. The empire waist one is in 8 other people’s shopping carts — swoop her up!
Per usual I had way more to share and bit off more than I could chew as I wrote all of this standing up at my kitchen island as our entire home is being painted and I just finished two weeks of stripping the crappy white paint off our historic 1953 wood paneled living room!!!
So let me know if there’s anything tempting you in the world of fast fashion that you’re looking for some alternatives for — my inbox is open! I’ll be back on Sunday with a new Curiosity Dispatch and next week I have lots of home goods to share that are perfect for summer hosting, entertaining, outdoor living, and picnicking.
Ignore all the typos — love u!!
Until then,
Xo,
G
This is sooo good and also may I request a post about wedding guest outfits?? I have four weddings this summer and I refuse to spend a ton of money on new dresses I feel lukewarm about!
I literally JUST walked into H&M this weekend while I was at the mall for Sephora and it really is a nightmare. It also just doesn’t feel like the fashion is even up to date? Like not to sit on trends but things looked so out of place