The question is- why do we need so much clothing now? Our world is influenced by fashion trends which changes very quickly and also as quickly changes the offers at fast fashion shelves. Clothing as seen in fast fashion has never been as cheap as it is now.
Clothing years ago- in our grandparents time was more expensive. It could be even that if we would compare in today’s money (counting in inflation and everything), money what our grandparents spent on clothing- could be that would be in amount of luxury clothing in todays money.
It’s amazing to think that a hundred years ago, at the birth of ready-made clothing as we know it, women would drop six hundred dollars for a Parisian knock-off. Today a fashionable dress is cheaper than a bag of dog food. How did we get here?[1]
According to Jan Whitaker’s book Service and Style, a history of department stores, a ready-made knockoff of a French “lingerie style” dress started at $25 ($621.50 in today’s dollars) at Marshall Field’s in 1902. It was more feasible for the average girl to buy a ready-made women’s suit, which started at $7.95 ($190) or, better yet, the quintessential shirtwaist, which sold for just 39 cents ($9.34) at the turn-of-the-century. The fashion-hound of modest means was better off making her own dresses or ordering them from the local dressmaker.[1]
By the 1950s, quality ready-made fashion was within the reach of the middle-class. For a reasonable $8.95 ($72), you could order slim-cut dress in black or navy blue, with a set-on bodice and detachable collar.
As clothes have become cheaper, our clothing consumption has gone through the roof. In 1930, the average American woman owned on average of nine outfits. Today, we each buy on average more than 60 pieces of new clothing per year. Our closets are larger and more stuffed than ever, and we’ve traded quality for low prices and new fashion trends. In total our spending on clothing has actually increased, from $7.82 billion spent on apparel in 1950 to $375 billion today. And fast fashion companies are reaping the rewards.
So what do we do now?
Do we stop shopping in fast fashion shops? In my opinion, that is how it would happen in perfect world, but we don’t live in the perfect world. We just choose our dresses wisely also in fast fashion shops. And to do so, I’ve prepared selection of some really nice winter, early spring dresses. I have choose dressed in colors which would be easy to combine with others. Here are also some sleveless dresses, which can be worn over shirts or under cardigans, blazers. Dresses starts from cheaper options, to more expensive ones at the end.
RESERVED
RESERVED is quite big fashion company from Poland. Even though, we could say that this is also a fast fashion company, it is still not as big as H&M and Zara. Still it’s best to choose higher quality items in this shop, as they will last longer.
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| Houndstooth dress 39.99 eur | Dress with decorative pleats 39.99 eur |
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| Shirt dress made of imitation leather €39.99 | Jersey dress with stand-up collar €44.99 |
ARKET
Even though ARKET is part of H&M group- in my eyes this brand seems more transparent- as there is more information about sustainability and production of items. And also quality of these items are higher. So here are some of my favorite dresses.
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| High-Neck Knitted Dress €89 | High-Neck Knitted Dress €89 |
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| Rib Knitted Merino Dress €99 | Oversized Sweatshirt Dress €69 |
ADOLFO DOMINGUEZ
Adolfo Dominguez designs top-quality clothes which sell for less than the big French and Italian brands but are more expensive than Spanish chain stores. This brand clothing is classical and very well designed.
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| Midi Stretch-knit Dress €59 | Sleeveless Midi Black Dress €59 |
STINE GOYA
Copenhagen based label Stine Goya is a joyful exploration in bold colour and hand painted prints. The House of Goya universe celebrates strong community values, unabashed creative talent and unfiltered expression. Here comes some more fun dresses.
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| Niki Dress – Gingham Black €135 | Anette Dress – Birch White €135 |
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| Bernard Dress – Birch White €160 | Lauren Dress – Ice €105 |
Also I wanted to mention, that great places where to search for good fashion deals are places like yoox.com, theoutnet.com, ssense.com. I really hope that you this blog post has been helpful.
Wishing You all lots of love and inspiration-
Photo by: https://unsplash.com/@karinatess
Inspired by: [1]https://blog.etsy.com/en/the-history-of-a-cheap-dress/