Posh Swaps Blog

The idea of second hand clothes has always been, to many people, a not-so pleasant one, with people only going in to charity shops if necessary. These days, however, charity shops are now beginning to undergo some modern changes and reinvent themselves. Oxfam in particular are really embracing this change. With the environment being in its bad shape, the idea of recycled fashion is becoming more and more popular with some of the bigger high-street fashion stores creating new lines of their own made out of recycled and organic materials.

With the opening of two new ’boutique’ stores last summer that came with plenty of media attention, Oxfam have gone all-out to try to shake off the musty image of charity shopping and create the new image of fashion store, whilst most importantly helping the environment. The new boutique stores were created to be little more than a charity shop- they are shops that provide beautiful, one-off clothes made from recycled materials and the assurance that every item sold will raise money to fight poverty around the world.

The Westbourne Grove boutique in London stocks donated high-end pieces re-crafted from pre-owned garments, so some of the items available can be a little pricey, but in return you get a one-off piece that no one else will ever own. There are seven boutiques altogether across the country (though mainly in London) that have been divided in to five categories- Loved for Longer, Fair Trade, Reinvented Made with Love, and Good Fashion Sense- all the details of which can be found at http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/content/secondhandstore/fashion/boutiques/default.html.

The transformation has come courtesy of fashion guru and Oxfam volunteer Jane Shepherdson CEO, whose vision of reinventing recycled fashion has turned around our basic charity shop image with the Oxfam Boutique which brings together specially selected donations, customised by volunteers or restyled by designers to bring us the new idea that charity can be chic.

Picture taken from www.oxfam.org.uk

Top designer & stylist, Mrs Jones has created a limited edition collection of only 30 reinvented Oxfam pieces that are on sale now in the Camden High Street Oxfam Store and Oxfam online. Each piece is made from second hand clothes so is completely unique and there is certainly nothing last year about these clothes.

Tie Dye Brittania - the all English sundress in trendy denim

Hats off to  monochrome - an incredible bustier dress in black and white

Shipmate Stripes and Shirts - sailors stripes and shirty checks.

Cheeky nautical stowaway - this striped mini declares ‘genius’ across the derriere

Eighties biker revival - embellished black leather bomber with black and white patch print leggings

Even if you don’t buy any of these, there are some great ideas for DIY projects that you could work on yourself. Don’t forget you can also buy and sell refashioned, reworked and restyled second hand clothes on Posh Swaps.