Blogger couture

Credit: Krista Eide

After the success of its premiere event in April, the Vancouver Fashion Bloggers Clothing Sale was back at the Grace Gallery (1898 Main St) on Saturday, July 25.

The sale was an opportunity for a few of Vancouver’s most popular fashion bloggers to share their personal stashes of new, used and mostly thrifted clothing, shoes, hats, jewelry and accessories.

“Our closets were bursting with stuff that was rad,” says Victoria Potter (pictured at right), of demiCouture, who co-organized the event along with Terri Potratz (The Conveyor Belt), Shallom Johnson (Stylefinds) and Kim Cathers (KimCathers.com).

The selection was as pre-edited, cool and eclectic as any you’d find in a stylist’s closet or vintage shop, but prices were on par or even lower than the average thrift store—most ranged from $3 to $15, although select vintage pieces were $30 to $50. (I picked up the jaunty nautical brooch pictured below and an authentic Argentinean gaucho hat for less than I’d expect to pay at Value Village.)
 

“Thrift stores are getting expensive. We want to keep this affordable for people,” Potter says. She finds the majority of her stuff at suburban and small-town secondhand shops, where prices are generally lower and the goods less picked over by the fashion-forward.

She says the idea behind the clothing sale was not only for the bloggers to clean out their closets and make a few bucks, but to connect with their readers and Vancouver’s budget-and eco-minded stylistas in the non-virtual world.

“It’s nice to have face-to-face conversations with people,” says Potter.

And while what was on display at the sale mostly catered to women, Potter says the group intends to sell men’s stuff at future events—and they’ll even help the guys (or anyone who needs it) with styling. It’s all in a day’s work to help make Vancouver a little more fashionable.

As Potter says, “I’m trying to get people to dress fantastically.”