How to Steal From Designer Brands
Paolina Russo, I'm coming for your chullos; MNZ, meet Ann Taylor Loft; and more such sacrilege.
Hi! Lately, as you have likely gathered given the broke-ass tenor of my blog posts, I’ve been thinking about how personal style often takes shape in the space between aspiration and improvisation—the tension between what we want to wear and what we can actually afford or find. Instead of treating designer clothes as unattainable objects, I like to think of them as vocabularies to be borrowed from, reinterpreted through secondhand finds, hand-me-downs, and the occasional sample-sale score. This fall, I’ve been experimenting with outfits inspired by some of my favorite labels like Paolina Russo and SC103. Below isn’t a list of replicas so much as translations—cheapo riffs on the work of designers who make me want to get dressed even when it’s too cold to care, featuring free stuff, a ton of vintage brands to watch out for on eBay, chullos, a rare (nigh on impossible?) Ann Taylor Loft win, and more.
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THANK YOU for being here, and I am always available @that.esque on Instagram for sartorial scandals/situations/summons. Here is a little preview of what’s below the paywall:
Sellout Segment
Before we begin the main event, I have decided that I’m going to try and include a few items every week that I either genuinely want or recently purchased with my own $$ in an effort to be more consistent with my affiliate links without being a total monster and compromising the quality of my blog, most of which is, as you know, centered around more abstract content and secondhand or DIY buys. I will always provide rationale for my recs and they will never be behind a paywall—even just clicking them helps me in my efforts to start getting free stuff from companies I’ve been giving free PR to for going on 5 years now, so your attention is much appreciated (and the stuff I’m including is actually cool and/or useful—no $890 fuckass jelly flats here, thanks)!
This is one of the first niche fragrances I fell in love with over a year ago. There is some ambrette/carrot seed/orris happening in the background, but let’s not kid ourselves: Studied is about the juicy, cold, delectable pear note that is equal parts invigorating and intoxicating, I got it over the summer but have really started reaching for it again now that it’s cold and rainy, because this scent is joy in a bottle—sweet but not cloying, contemplative but not overcomplicated. It doesn’t have great longevity, but that’s why I got the big bottle. It’s good enough that it’s worth the sprays. Everyone I know who has tried it, including my most brilliant (and olfactorily savvy) friend
, loves it (I believe Ellie also owns a bottle lol). Get a $5 sample if you don’t believe me.
I love these damn pants. Made especially for people under 5’4, as is everything Nelle Atelier makes (I’m 5’1), these pants made me understand barrel legs—the volume and shape they give even the sloppiest of thrown-together lounge fits makes me feel so damn cool. They are somehow extremely lightweight but insulated (I have worn them in both heat and cold)—I genuinely wear them like sweatpants at this point. They are 1000x better (softer, lighter, more interesting shape) than the Le Bon Shoppe Arc pants and the only think I could ask for would be 16 more colorways so I can convert my entire closet to Horseshoes. They are an investment for SURE and I would not have been able to try them if the good people at Nelle hadn’t sent me a pair, but if you are short and have the ducats, these pants will be your constant companions for seasons and seasons and seasons to come. I wish I were exaggerating because now I have to save up for the blue version. Scroll down to see how I styled these pants inspired by the SC103 runways!
I would literally never spend this much money on laundry supplies, but
generously shared this PR kit with me in the scent “Egyptian Rose,” which I had a feeling would smell exactly like…
…the sachets left behind by my beloved grandma, which speckled her closet and have both her clothes and the room I spent so much time as a child in, the room she died in, a distinctive smell—not too powdery, a little spicy, but mostly full, round, rose. To get to experience that smell in my own laundry was a happy surprise. I have never used laundry detergent that didn’t “work,” so I don’t have much to say about the actual function of the products, but their smell is transportative for sure!
Paolina Russo
This winter, all I have wanted is to dress in Paolina Russo clothes with their cozy admixture of handmade kitsch and futuristic, cyberpagan iconography (which I wrote about as the frontier of “nonbinary fashion” for i-D magazine a while ago). Unfortunately, the brand’s wares are wildly overpriced (nearly $250 for a knit cap and so on), so I took inspiration from the Andean knits such as the chullo-style earflap beanies the brand iterates upon and sweaters that incorporate patterns from wintry regions of South America, added baggy printed jeans (I can’t quite get to the level of bagginess the PR models flaunt without feeling overwhelmed as a 5’1 person), and topped the look off with a clashing woven bag and chunky black boots (skate shoes like those from Osiris, which is what the brand often has its models wear, would have been the ideal). My favorite part of the outfit is the fleece-lined chullo which has been keeping me so warm and adding so much intrigue to every outfit I’ve worn in the past few weeks with its extra-long strands of pom poms (if I’d had more energy and money, I would have sought pom poms to clip on to the bag and shoes as well). I also love that the sweater has so much volume in its bell sleeves, plus two hidden front pockets.
Vintage Chullo-style cap by Tabask - $12 on ebay - similar here
Vintage sweater by Fashion Import - $19 at store I work at - similar here
Vintage suede jacket - $10 at feria in Buenos Aires - similar here
Big Bud Press tiger print mid waist trousers - $30 in sample sale + $16 hemming - other colorways of same style here
Secondhand woven bag - $12 at store I work at - similar here
V6400 Otter safety boots - $16 at consignment store - similar here