Show Your Personality Off For Less: Best Affordable Brands That Will Suit You
Fashion is a tool. Some people use fashion to simply just look better in their own eyes; some people use fashion to create; some people use it to show their personality off to complete strangers who wouldn’t have gotten a chance to know them closer.
All of these goals come with a certain issue of course. That issue being the money.
Fashion is often considered something luxurious — something you need to have a lot of money to explore properly, but that is not always true… unless your goal is to demonstrate just how filthy rich you are, of course.
There are a lot of quite affordable brands that can demonstrate just who you are and what you like without having you spend your whole salary. So I thought I’d share some that I know of.
1) Vintage and retro
Collectif
One of my all time favourites, Collectif is there to make all of your vintage-dress-look dreams come true. Going for a 20s bodyline dress look? Or for a 50s flared frilly sweetgirl vibe? Whichever one of those you’d pick, Collectif is ready to help — while also being amongst the affordable brands line, and offering quite frequent discounts and offers.
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URBANXCHANGE
For a different definition of retro — with loud printed T-shirts, boho vintage dresses and woven huaraches, try URBANXCHANGE. Affordable? Check. Cute? Check. Quick rotation of styles and collections? Check. (But that also means you have to hurry! Beware!) A variety of different items that would cater to a whole bunch of different styles? Absolutely check.Â
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2) Boho & hippie
Urban Outfitters
The well-known all time favourite of the artsy lads you know very well — all friend groups have at least one of those, I guarantee (as if that wasn’t the most popular style these days as is). Regardless of as to whether you’re going for the more authentic hippie look, or for a slightly grungier (or more activist) variation of it — Urban Outfitters is there to support your endeavours.
Honestly, while there is a bunch of other “boho” brands and shops, I would just recommend this one — because the ones recommended to me previously still all went up into the triple figures, and you don’t really want that, do you. Not in an article about affordable brands.
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3) Harajuku
Harajuku refers to the area surrounding Tokyo’s Harajuku station, Japan. It is popular for being one of the brightest, most fashionable locations in Japan and is known internationally as the main hub of Japanese youth fashion trends and culture.
Harajuku fashion is well known amongst our generation, but when done incorrectly it might look plain dumb, as sad as it is.
Loud and incredibly versatile, it can simultaneously mean several things; it can be impressively bright and disorderly, it can be dark and grungy, it can revolve around the pastel-goth aesthetic, it can incorporate elements of cosplay or lolita fashion — it can do it all.
The most important thing, however, that unites all Harajuku streetwear is 1) it’s eclectic, 2) there’s a lot going on at any given moment. And who doesn’t love some of that?
So without further ado:
3.1) Alternative and grunge
Rogue And Wolf
Loud, dark, filled with contrasts and witchy aesthetics, Rogue + Wolf will take your hand and guide you through the days you feel like going onto witchblr and showing off your goth(-ish) moods.
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Restyle
Offering a much larger variety of both styles and sheer amounts of products, Restyle is amongst the affordable brands specialising in the similar witch-y, goth-y aesthetics and styles. Based in Poland but shipping worldwide, selling anything from corsets to bags (and less than $50 for a good corset? That’s properly difficult to find), Restyle is a good shop to have bookmarked!
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In Control Clothing
Combining within itself alternative, grunge, goth and kawaii styles, the pastel goth movement became incredibly popular in the west thanks to a) the already existing love for Harajuku fashion, and b) Tumblr. Of course.
Gothic crosses combined with pink wigs, extreme blush yet all-black outfits and a lot more — that’s what pastel goth is. In Control Clothing offers a lot of the Harajuku scene clothing in general while creating its own original content — all the while remaining in the affordable brands category and one of the main Harajuku style distributors.
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3.2) Lolita and kawaii
Bodyline
Lolita fashion is an extremely expensive hobby, so the existence of any affordable brands in this area is a miracle in itself. A lot of people either save up for the outfits they want or sew/combine them themselves from other brands’ clothing lines.
And Bodyline is the one and only friend we have here — I mean, those of us who want to not cash out completely. Lolita-fashion lovers, rejoice!
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(or make one very similar)
Acid grunge
ELST0RE
This style is difficult to describe, but you know what it is — I’m talking neon crop-tops, tie-dye, japanese alphabet prints on sleeves, dragons on sheer mesh, cut-outs and see-throughs… the list goes on.
The grungy acid trip style is absolutely IT right now, with it spreading far and wide into multiple age and social groups. (And I don’t know its name or how to Google it up properly, so do educate me in the comments, please. All I know is that it looks absolutely phenomenal.)
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Overall, fashion, understandably, is not just a way to express oneself anymore — although, admittedly, it’s still one of the easiest and most important ways to do so — it is also a form of art these days, especially with all the artistic people revolutionising the industry.
