LFW AW 22: Turn your shopping into treasure hunting with luxury consignment stores
by Zainab Mahmood / @zainab.slow.fashion
As we come to the end of London Fashion Week, it’s exciting to see fresh and heritage designers bring it back to the London runways. Like many people, my entrance to the world of high-end fashion was through my mum, who introduced me to luxury handbags with her Chloe, Jimmy Choo, and Marc Jacobs numbers. We used to have a ritual of having lunch at a Lebanese restaurant across the road from Harrods, then going to look at the handbags in the iconic handbag hall. Even though Mum would rarely make a purchase, I got such a rush from taking in the different textured leathers, unique hardware details and unexpected coloured stitching. A London institution, Harrods is where I first became acclimated with some of the most iconic leather goods and craftsmanship in the world, and where I went on to purchase my first two designer handbags. But London is also home to so many hidden wonders when it comes to buying luxury in a more ethical and sustainable way.
“London is also home to so many hidden wonders when it comes to buying luxury in a more ethical and sustainable way.”
Five years ago, when I started the transition into shopping entirely secondhand, I discovered consignment stores. Consignment stores are made up of stock brought in by average consumers looking to pass on unwanted goods. When the items sell, they are paid a percentage (often 50%) of the resale price and the consignor keeps the rest. This means that consumers can pass on their stuff without the fuss of having to photograph and market the items themselves, and those interested in shopping second hand can do so in more curated retail spaces. Whilst my reasons were ethically-driven — only 47% of fashion brands disclose their manufacturing facilities and retailers dispose of 25% of items returned by customers — shopping luxury fashion via consignment stores has enabled me to acquire unique items that I never would have come across or been able to afford otherwise.
It has felt like my little secret knowing that I can shop such trailblazing brands for a fraction of the price at consignment stores without contributing to the negative impacts of the fashion industry. My fascination led me to an airy beachfront consignment store in Brighton in September 2021, where I bought my beloved Madeleine Thompson joggers with rainbow stripes down the sides, and to consignment stores all over my home city, London.
“I can shop such trailblazing brands for a fraction of the price at consignment stores without contributing to the negative impacts of the fashion industry.”
Three of my favourite consignment shops in London are Dynasty Designer Wear, Sign of the Times and Pandora Dress Agency, all offering such different shopping experiences. Dynasty is smaller than my bedroom and tucked away off Kensington Church Street where you wouldn’t think to go treasure hunting, but it’s bursting at the seams with epic premium high street and high end clothes, shoes and accessories. The small size and cosy, welcoming vibe make Dynasty the perfect starting point for those feeling a bit intimidated by the luxury fashion world.
Sign of the Times, on the other hand, feels like it may as well be Browns, one of London’s iconic luxury boutiques. I haven’t been to Harrods for several years and rarely step into ‘new’ fashion retail stores in general, but the luxury shopping experience at Sign of the Times gives me a more than satisfying dose of glitz and glam. And then there’s the museum and treasure trove that is Pandora Dress Agency in Chelsea. Pandora is adorned with handbags in all different colours from all your favourite luxury brands hanging from the ceiling over its dedicated Chanel jacket rail and many rails of neutral toned basics and fuzzy, silky and spiky (in a good way) flamboyant showstoppers — think a rich woman’s and drag queen’s dream closet.
This fashion treasure-hunter’s goldmine is where I bought the most joyful silky Racil trousers printed with overlapping, multi-coloured polka dots, a mere day before purchasing the Madeleine Thompson joggers. I love colour, if you couldn’t tell, and there’s been more of it in my wardrobe since indulging in what the consignment world has to offer.
McKinsey reports that the second most popular reason for which people sell their luxury fashion items is that their style has changed. Even if this is because some fashion-lovers can be motivated by lust over practicality when shopping, half the fun of fashion is experimenting and playing different characters each time we get dressed — Blair Waldorf in her preppy bows and headbands one day and Serena Van der Woodsen in her layered boho looks the next. Consignment stores allow us to pass on our gems to other fashion caretakers so they can still be loved once we’ve come to the end of our experiments. Maybe multi-coloured trousers won’t call to me in ten years in the same way they do now, but they’ll be calling for someone else in one of the many dreamy consignment shops that engulf me in London.
We live in such a fast-paced world in which we move on so quickly and whilst many luxury fashion brands produce items at a higher quality than fast fashion brands, these days they lean into seasonal trends in the same way. This London Fashion Week, why not revisit seasons passed and unearth some forgotten fashion treasures instead?
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