OPINION | Is the old and used the new and chic in fashion?

Editor's Note:

Mari Rodríguez Ichaso has been a contributor to Vanidades magazine for several decades.

She is a specialist in fashion, travel, gastronomy, art, architecture and entertainment, film producer and style columnist for CNN en Español.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely his own.

Read more opinion pieces at cnne.com/opinion.

(CNN Spanish) - I

begin my comment with an anecdote:

My mother dressed like a queen.

Tall, slim, with her own style and innate good taste, during the many years she lived in New York, all her clothes were from

thrift shops

or second-hand stores!

As we were exiles from Cuba, with very little (very little) means when we got to the city - and Mommy had a second-hand shop around the corner - that was her salvation to dress well and she was fascinated to visit her every day! I was coming home with real wonders!

And so - for just a few dollars - I would buy a divine vintage bag, discover a brooch of blue crystals from Kenneth Lane, which was a beauty.

A 50s hat from Lily Dache.

A black Dior dress that was a gem.

He also bought clothes for my brother and me.

And once he bought a dozen Ferragamo shoes - which looked 100% new - for which he paid $ 1 a pair, and they lasted the rest of his life!

"I couldn't believe they were my size and I bought them all," he commented.

"They were donated by a lady who lives on Fifth Avenue and can no longer wear heels."

And so, he told us about his adventures in his very personal world of fashion in what we called "the store of the old."

A fun everyday experience!

Now moving the clock ahead a few years, I announce that, in 2021, the super trend of the moment is to buy used clothes and accessories - although this time not "vintage", but modern, super luxury and famous brands! -.

But pieces so lightly used and so well cared for that they look brand new out of the box!

And what began as a trend, little by little, during the closure of the pandemic - and the increase in online purchases - has become an entire industry, where companies such as The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, Poshmark, Rebag and many others , are the new passion of the "fashionistas". And the big fashion houses are already partnering with these resale companies. As is the case with Gucci, which has made a contract with The RealReal to sell certain merchandise through them.

I don't want to celebrate "retro" being the latest trend. Not! Nor that right now we must run to a used clothing store to buy pieces that look really used. The phenomenon is that these online stores are already very powerful companies (The RealReal is already on the stock market) and they sell - at a fraction of their original price - modern, latest things, from Hermes handbags to Gucci clothes, jewelry from Tiffany, dresses from Valentino, Dior or Chanel, scarves and sunglasses from Carolina Herrera or Prada, etc., etc. True wonders that we probably would not have bought at regular price because they were too expensive! And according to one of the biggest players in second-hand luxury, Vestiaire Collective, the value of the sector would exceed $ 70 billion by 2025.

Profits, second hand sales and a software to sanitize 1:33

A new method of being consumers and with an iPhone or tablet in hand, it becomes easier for us to click and freely buy objects that we love!

Another great advantage of this trend of

resale

or resale?

That in those places we can also sell our fashion pieces!

That Vuitton bag that is like new and already bores us.

That Cartier bracelet that can bring us good money.

That Gucci dress that we never got out of because we never really liked it, etc., etc.

And - of course - I am already a customer of some of them, to buy and sell very much in the style of a 2021 consumer.