How to update a wardrobe for 1000 rubles
The consequences of the fall of the ruble and the new economic crisis in Russia could not but affect our consumer habits. Shopping becomes more rational and pragmatic, and the choice of things in stores is more uniform and functional. At least, experts predict this. At the same time, the prospect of going from corner to corner in the mass market in search of cheap fashionable things seems depressing. Although, we will not argue, we will go there for cheap basic things, underwear, socks and other vital trifles. Another question: how to replenish the wardrobe, spending a minimum of money and buying something universal or, on the contrary, unusual?
We decided to see what classroom can be found in the shops in front of the house, in discount centers and regional second-ages of Moscow, and also studied the offers in groups on social networks. The limitation of the experiment was simple: one thousand rubles in hand. We tell that we have succeeded.
Second-hand hypermarket "Megastil"
Spent: 1100 rubles
bought: Turtleneck, T-shirt, denim jacket
Imagine an empty Auchan or a huge warehouse. Now make it rails with the very different second-hand-clothes, hung by type: from t-shirts to sheepskin coats - this is how all the stores of the Megastil network look. There are two of them in Moscow. In St. Petersburg, for example, exactly more than five. Outwardly, they are most reminiscent of real "thrift stores" in States like the Salvation Army or Goodwill. The only exception is that the income does not go to charity and you yourself can not bring things for sale.
By filling "Megastil" usual second from Europe, only things - in huge quantities. Here you can find everything. You just need to search long and hard. Among the thousands of ugly T-shirts with Justin Bieber's head, English football teams, or even such, you can find knitwear from Marimekko; in a pile of rustling jackets from the 80s - jeans from a good tight denim, and if you're lucky, then actually classic jeans like Wrangler or Levi's. Sadly, earlier in "Megastila" it was better: more uniform new sweatshirts, and jeans did not argue at the price with Uniqlo, but cost, as befits second-hand items, pennies.
Now the choice in "Megastil" poorer. Most of them are the ugly mass market of the 2000s, and, according to the law of the genre, everything is snapped up with lightning speed. This time I found a cool-colored sports turtleneck (250 rubles), an ideal jeans shirt for some 500 rubles and a huge Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt (350 rubles), which with leggings will completely go for a dress. Already outside the budget of the assignment, I also found a very cool skirt, made of a boucle material for sweatshirts — it also cost about 350. For those who are experiencing: the strange smell of a second-hand is hygiene, it smells like formalin, which is used to process everything, and it leaves first wash.
The delivery of “Megastil” - on Saturday, and starting from the next day there are progressive discounts from 10 to 60%, which is pretty good. Now there are few sweatshirts, but a lot of sportswear that has returned to fashion, like Olympics and sports shorts. Also here you can go for T-shirts and try your luck in the search for basic things and even, if lucky, in outerwear. Those who are looking for a vintage exclusive are definitely not here, but such seconds can be a great help to those who practice the normcore and are not afraid to experiment with an unusual cut.
Online shopping
Spent: 1000 rubles
bought: Trench
I decided to chop off the shoulder and first went to Avito. Avito - the same gigantic market or a big second-hand only without stink and fuss. Avito was giving away a wedding satin cake dress for 500 rubles - it could have been a great Halloween costume. There were offers to buy a mink coat for 30 rubles. I think at the meeting would have hacked to death with an ax or thrown to the phone. But on Avito there is a large selection of depraved go-go suits (frankly, not what I was looking for) and all sorts of things for 11 rubles: ugly shoes, bags with rhinestones, leopard blouses and other trash. In short, with Avito did not grow together.
The next step was the Undress group on Facebook, where familiar or unfamiliar girls resell their things: boots, coats, ASOS blouses, JNBY down jackets, and luxury. Scrolling through the many posts, I drooped: almost all things were more expensive than a thousand rubles. She closed the page, deeply thinking: what could I offer the world and sell there for "a piece" rubles?
Another thing - "VKontakte". There are many interesting pages. For example, public V.E clothes of our heroine from the column "Wardrobe", where she sells vintage 80s and 90s. Up to a thousand rubles you can find a sweater, short skirts, a shirt with a tie-dye pattern, a backpack, jeans with an American flag, hats, a large number of glasses of different shapes, bags. Her coat and fur coats are more expensive, but up to 3,000 rubles. Another discovery is Vintage Goods, which sell a large number of retro-sneakers like ASICS, Fila and nameless within 1500-3000 rubles.
In general, to find dozens of groups for the sale of vintage and junk, it is enough to drive in the search for "second" and "vintage." Of course, there are also Avito "hand to hand" public groups or clubs of retro collectors. But I'm not looking for easy ways. For example, in the public All Moscow Seconds there is a mass of vintage shops and city secondaries: INNERMAN on Frunzenskaya (ordinary second), PARADOX on Taganskaya (normcore and hopkor), KØLXØZ vintage on Tretyakovskaya (hipster), Trulyours on "Paveletskaya" (dresses of dead brides) - this is only a small part. However, all these public places are advertisements for existing places. Nobody to bring a dress for $ 100 to the threshold, of course, will not, so I still had to leave the house.
VKontakte is convenient because you can preview the assortment in each store and create a route. So I did. In KØLXØZ (a frightening name, of course) there was an excellent burgundy midi skirt. Went to her, but the store was closed for the holidays. Tip: call in advance. The next closest place was a store on the Paveletskaya Trulyours. Having wandered in the courtyards behind the station, with difficulty I found the Bichevsky basement. It smelled there, of course, not May rose. I long sneezed from dust and formalin, wandering between the dresses in the floor for a hundred rubles, until I came across an almost new trench. He was scarlet and with gold buttons, the '80s, besides velvety to the touch. The tag read: "Made in Taiwan." It turned out as usual, when the thing itself finds you, and where you do not expect it.
Now I think to trench buy white sweat pants or something scarlet tone to match. By the way, there were retrorolikas on four wheels in the store, but they didn’t have enough money for them. It’s a pity she could have rolled them out of the basement. In general, the Internet can greatly facilitate the search: there are many resale groups, second-hand and vintage. The main thing is to gain patience.
District second-hand
Spent: 1066 rubles
Purchased: Vatnik, Nike sweatshirt
I go to the seconds almost every weekend, and most of the coolest things in my wardrobe are from there. The main rule in seconds is the same: you never know what you find. Therefore, you need to watch everything. Even on a seemingly useless rail with women's fitted shirts in rhinestones, I somehow found a simple silk black top and a short Champion t-shirt.
The second rule: fabric - the main selection criterion. If the thing does not fit in size, but it is from a good material, it can always be altered. Very rarely there are things that do not require changes. Basically it is the little things: unpick an extra part, hem, tuck and fasten the collar, paint the zipper. It happens that I sit over my shirt for several days: I change the sleeves, the buttons so that they are not visible when I fasten, I remove the pockets and the collar, I change the style of the shoulders. If there is a sewing machine, it turns out, of course, faster, and so it is necessary to adapt.
When we decided to conduct this experiment, I first wanted to go to Megastil. I have never left it empty-handed, although even trying on a dozen things is a valuable experience. Then I thought it would be more interesting to travel around the district seconds and see what can be found there. My route consisted of three stations: "Voikovskaya" - "Sokol" - "Skhodnenskaya" - and seven stores, it makes no sense to write exact addresses, everything is very easy to find on the Internet. While I was looking for those in which I was, I found three more new ones at each station. On "Shodnenskaya" - my favorite. It was there that I eventually stumbled upon a gray quilted padded jacket for 636 rubles and a Nike sweatshirt with a hood for 430. True, everything is nothing in comparison with the famous bag that I was given along with the purchase.
In general, prices there vary depending on the delivery of clothing. In the days before him, everything is much cheaper, but the choice of things is less. There are second-hand, where the price per kilogram is set: 300-400 rubles. On "Shodnenskaya" - one of them. There I often bought skirts and shorts for 30 or 50 rubles. Saleswomen is a separate topic. Almost everybody considered it her duty to utter two phrases: "this is male" and "she’s a big one to you." Although in the maximum perplexity, I left the saleswoman only once, when I bought jeans for pregnant women (by the way, ideal light blue mom jeans for only 300 rubles). This find is doubly successful, given that in the second you can often find cool outerwear and an infinite number of sweatshirts and T-shirts, rather than good shoes or pants. A couple of times I even came across almost new sneakers, and of course, Birkenstocks, of course. In the summer, the orthopedic sandals seemed to be overwhelmed with all the seconds. In fact, I was very lucky this time: both things fit perfectly. All the will of the case. Before I bought a padded jacket and a sweatshirt, I left with nothing five times.
Discount center "Ordzhonikidze 11"
Spent: 997 rubles
Purchased: fur coat, jeans, glasses
Spending a thousand on clothes can be done in two ways: to quench consumer itch in the mass market with another T-shirt, or to approach the matter consciously. I immediately decided to be honest and look for things that I would really wear: ideally, a turtleneck, a classic midi skirt and neutral, but well-fitting jeans. The giant discount center "Ordzhonikidze 11" in the building of the former machine-tool factory, in fact, is a budget version of an ordinary shopping center - so the rules here are exactly the same. The list of stores is best studied in advance on the website, and it makes sense to go for specific brands (there are Levi's, Gant, Lacoste, Karen Millen and Mexx) or sports equipment from Reebok to adidas. Our budget dictated intriguing searches among the range of Sela, Savage or Colin's.
The main rule - to know exactly what you are going for - turned out to be the most reasonable, so great is the chance to get lost in the world of big discounts. First, discounts are not always equally cheap - hardly anyone will specifically come here for a Gant quilted jacket made of soft beige suede for 45 thousand rubles, and he is here. In stores with names like Sexy Woman or Discount Season, there are absurdly expensive nameless items with an emphasis on satin dresses in the floor. The reputation of a meaningless place was confirmed by the discount of the “Jeans Symphony” with a set of characterless things for unjustified 3-5 thousand. The cheapest jeans here cost 1099 rubles and looked so incongruous next to me.
More attractive prospects, as well as greater danger, are fraught with mass supermarkets, where things are hung by type and price category. Plates "from 299 rubles" more often mean "from" than "299", but you cannot give up. It was in such a megastore of Ostin that I found moderately flared jeans of the correct blue color for an incredible 99 rubles, remaining only in the size of XS. Alas, with blouses and turtlenecks recruited in enthusiasm, it was stubborn that there was something wrong - either a frankly cheap fabric, or an unbalanced cut, or the presence of unexpected details such as ruches on the shoulders, or all at once (this can be seen even by the way Ostin designers imagine baseline). This is the scourge of the majority of similar democratic brands, and buying something in them is completely neutral, like knitted t-shirts, country dresses, or men's-style cotton shirts. More expressive things come out from them in a better way, but if you really want to, you can venture on a dress with a distant greeting for Marie Katranza or a topical print with a multi-directional strip for 500 rubles. In addition, most have online stores, where there are also discounts.
It is important to remember that adaptation to such standards of beauty is faster than we would like. After two hours in the world of jeans with scuffs, you begin to persuade yourself that this formless acrylic cardigan of dark color is really nothing. At the first sign of such disorientation, one should either capitulate or turn to a proven brand, whose designers have at least some reason to trust. I was saved by the discount of the BNS Group, where the rails of Armani Jeans, Calvin Klein, Mexx (everything is more expensive than a thousand) and Topshop are adjacent. In one of the corners of Topshop, crot-tops for 999 rubles hung sadly, but from the other a leopard fur coat made of charmingly ugly faux fur, which I probably secretly dreamed all my life, waved my sleeve, but was afraid to confess. 799 rubles on the price tag shouted that we were destined to be together: to her, me and flared jeans. The fur coat decided everything, and at the cash register, eccentric glasses for the remaining 99 rubles jumped into their hands. Using the terminology of the writer E.L. James, my inner Elton John exulted and twisted a triple flip.
Incredibly, everything turned out the way I wanted. I wear a fur coat for a week now, and she delights me, all my friends and passers-by on the street, for 99 rubles jeans were the most seated in my wardrobe and breathed life into the Sonia Rykiel booties, which didn’t fit to anything before funny glasses, as you know, are never superfluous. Still, there is nothing better than a clear plan, which you then send to the devil.