Could my designer wardrobe actually be my nest egg?
As a top fashion editor with a label addiction, she put style before finances. Now JAYNE PICKERING asks an expert...
GIVE me a creative task and I know where I am, but talk about finances and my eyes glaze over.
Like so many women, the very mention of ISAs, spreadsheets and pensions makes me drift off and I’m afraid I relate to the report released by NatWest last month that finds 50 per cent of us don’t put money aside for savings, no matter what we earn.
But as a divorced woman with three grown children — Joshua, 26, Alfie, 23, and Ella, 21 — who all live at home with me in West London, I know I need to start paying more attention to my finances.
Working in the fashion world hasn’t helped. During my 35-year career, first for vogue, then as fashion director for Marie Claire, and now as a personal stylist, I’ve been lucky enough to get close to some of the world’s most glamorous clothes, and it’s given me a fashion habit.
through my job, I have had access to designer sales and been able to buy pieces at a sizeable discount, so my spending isn’t as high as you might expect.
I’ve come in for a fair bit of teasing about my addiction to expensive fashion over the years though — friends, family and even colleagues have attempted to rein me in.
one friend at work was always suggesting I look at high Street brands, but it’s the high-end designs that get every little detail just right and don’t seem to date.
I inherited my love of clothes from my mum. I clearly remember her buying me a cream silk, high-necked shirt with little buttons up the cuffs from the Biba shop in London when I was 13.
She has great taste, but unlike me she is very practical. At 81 and still working as a nurse, she mostly wears her uniform and owns just six very good dresses. So there has been the odd raised eyebrow when she sees me coming through the door with a Celine bag. But she also enjoys looking at my purchases.
I set myself a challenge to find the absolute best example of each wardrobe classic: the perfect leather jacket (mine is Celine), black dress (thank you, Dolce & Gabbana) or little floral tea dress (hello, Prada). When I do, I just can’t be without it.
I don’t throw money away. I’ll plan purchases for months, visiting them in the shop several times. I buy, at most, two or three things a season. none of my pieces ends up in landfill because I choose things that will last for ever and become heirlooms to hand down to Ella.
WHEN I’m sitting on the front row, people are often surprised to learn that I’m wearing, for example, a Prada parka I bought eight years ago.
I’ve also been careful to look after every purchase and keep it in immaculate condition. I keep every box and dust bag and sometimes even leave the labels attached.
I make sure every piece is clean and brushed down before I put it back in the wardrobe — because I like my clothes to look pristine and it can make a big difference when it comes to reselling.
I bought my classic black quilted leather Chanel 2.55 bag for £2,000 30 years ago. that’s a huge amount of money, but I’ve never had to buy another evening bag since — it’s still the only one I ever use.
now, after all those years of being teased about my ‘clothes habit’, I hope I may be about to have the last laugh.
I’ve decided to call in the renowned vintage fashion expert Kerry taylor, who runs Kerry taylor Auctions, to see what my wardrobe might be worth.
Could the fabulous clothes I’ve squirrelled away over the years provide me with a nest egg?
As she starts flicking through garments, I’m more than a little nervous. What if she says the clothes I’ve spent my earnings on over the years aren’t worth anything? her first words aren’t encouraging.
‘With very few exceptions, clothes plummet in value as soon as you walk out of the shop with them — a bit like buying a Porsche,’ she says.
‘You won’t generally make more on the resale market than you paid for them, unless we’re talking about a new-ish hermes bag.’
It’s a little disappointing but Kerry continues: ‘But the clothes you’ve chosen will never go out of fashion because they are classic. there’s definitely value in some of these pieces.’
She explains that when it comes to designer handbags, the largest market is Asia, where the newest possible models are favoured over anything that would be considered ‘vintage’.
At one of Kerry’s auctions, you can pick up a pristine Fifties hermes Kelly bag for a few hundred pounds, whereas a hermes Birkin from last year could
go for as much as £15,000 to £20,000, thanks to tightly controlled distribution and a long waiting list to buy one new.
Aside from Hermes, the brand that retains the most value is Chanel. Luckily, I have a fair sprinkling of classic Chanel pieces. Kerry picks out a few as sellable: a blue fringed jacket and my trusty black quilted 2.55 bag, which would now be worth £2,000 to £3,000. It’s quite thrilling that I’ve had 30 years’ wear out of it and could still make £1,000 profit!
Among her other picks are a black wool crepe, cropped Gucci jacket bought quite recently; my Celine biker jacket (£300); two Prada floral tea dresses that are about six years old; an Yves Saint Laurent signature ‘Le Smoking’ tuxedo jacket (£150) and two pairs of Celine shoes (£150 each).
THe figures she gives me sadly aren’t going to provide for a luxurious old age in the Caribbean. But they’ll certainly pay for a few enjoyable staycations.
It turns out if I’d wanted to make a serious profit, I should have been investing in the most outré runway looks.
‘extreme catwalk looks and pieces that sum up the designer’s signature aesthetic — tartan runway pieces from Alexander McQueen, for example — will always make the most,’ Kerry says.
‘Items that were the first iteration of a design, especially an influential one, will also always achieve top prices. The first versions of the Yves Saint Laurent ‘Le Smoking’ jacket from the late 1960s — when Yves himself was designing — can sell for up to £20,000, while a similar one from the 1980s would only achieve £400.’
Kerry should know — she has sold some seriously stellar clothes for hundreds of thousands of pounds, including pieces belonging to Diana, Princess of Wales.
One of her most prestigious sales was a collection of Audrey
Hepburn’s Givenchy couture, which sold for £270,000 in total, with one sensational Chantilly lace cocktail gown going for £60,000.
Kerry often discovers fascinating stories behind the pieces she sells — like the fact Hepburn would often give away unwanted clothes to friends. The Hepburn collection Kerry auctioned was originally given by the actress to a friend — a young mother with very little money, who would often do her housework in the Givenchy couture because that’s all she had!
My own taste for designer clothes was honed in the fashion department at Vogue, at the height of the supermodel era. We’d go off to exotic locations on shoots with models such as Naomi Campbell and Linda evangelista and suitcases full of the season’s runway looks, from designers like my favourite, Azzedine Alaia.
I’d save to buy my own Alaia pieces, including a gorgeous pair of hotpants I wore the day after my wedding.
I recently tested the water by selling my own collection of Alaia to fashion colleagues. I made more than £3,000 for two jackets and a few dresses and took my family to Cornwall in the summer. It’s inspired me to look into selling more pieces.
So, have I been vindicated after all these years of designer clothes addiction? Well, I won’t be starting a jet-set new life in my 60s, but they’ll act as insurance in the face of any shortfalls.
Kerry tells me: ‘You’ve saved a fortune over the years because you haven’t had to go shopping for a new wardrobe every season.
‘While cheaper clothes will be worthless at resale, you’ve had years of wear out of yours — and you’ll make a nice proportion of what you originally paid for them on the resale market.’
And if I decide to turn clothes shopping into more of an investment, I could pick up heirloom pieces at auction, hang on to them and resell them in the future.