My favourite clothes shop

Part two. The Wardrobe.

This is the window of my favourite clothes shop, from the inside. Where I mostly see it from. I’m in there quite a bit…

I know I wrote about my favourite clothes shop quite recently, but this is my other favourite clothes shop – and the amazing thing is it’s about five minutes walk from the first one I wrote about.

And like that establishment, I could stroll to The Wardrobe from my house with my eyes closed.

Which I’ve pretty much been doing for the last 18 years, since my lovely friend Mel opened it, not that long after we moved here to Hastings Old Town.

That was good timing for both of us, because I immediately became both a keen customer and a client – both buying from it and bringing in my own no-longer-required treasures for Mel to sell on.

Because The Wardrobe is what the Americans call a ‘consignment store’ and my late mother used to call a ‘good-as-new’ shop, where you take in quality gear in good condition and when it’s sold you split the takings.

What I do is take a pile of stuff in, then leave it all to tick over for a while so some of it sells and becomes a credit balance, which I then spend in the shop.

So I have that lovely feeling of walking out with, say, a Diane von Furstenberg gold sequin jacket, lined with lingerie-pink chiffon *THAT SEASON, NEW WITH TAGS* (this really happened) – without any money changing hands.

I call this system Mel Dollars. It feels like free clothes.

But what makes The Wardrobe really amazing is that as well as the astonishing designer gear you can pick up there (check out this Dolce & Gabbana coat, that’s currently on the rails, new with tags…look at the buttons! Look at the lining!) there are more retail layers going on.

Because, while it may say ‘boutique’ on the facade – The Wardrobe is actually an emporium.

These boots are Dior.

Alongside the designer finds of the century, she has carefully curated serious vintage.

Sorry about my crappy out-of-focus picture, I was overexcited

It’s the best possible place to take a young woman for her first serious evening gown and then you have things like a real original Ossie Clark.

Also a bit fuzzy, but you get the drift

And very early original Laura Ashley.

I think the poor quality might be because of the size of the images when I downloaded them, actually. Whatever.

Sometimes she has amazing 1920s dresses and there is always a selection of heavenly vintage silk lingerie.

For every day, there’s a good show of recent items from solid quality, upper mid-range labels – your Toast, your Whistles, your Jigsaw. Very handy for wardrobe staples.

A little number by Toast.

But it’s the final category that, for me, gives the shop it’s unique appeal: quirky gear.

These are clothes by labels you’ve never heard of – and which you will never see anywhere else. They are one offs. She always has a few drifty numbers Margot Ledbetter would snap up.

You can always rely on Mel for a Margot look.

Mel has a brilliant eye for these items and they are the kind of things that you had no idea you were looking for, that can suddenly anchor your whole wardrobe.

I long to see this PVC number styled up. Mark Connolly, I would like your suggestions in the comments, please.

Further quirks of darling Mel: she doesn’t do social media and she doesn’t do mail order. So, if you want to shop in The Wardrobe, you’ll have to come to the bottom of the High Street in Hastings Old Town and do it in person.

And it’s worth it, because it’s hard to do justice to the joy of shopping there with my happy snap pictures.

The Wardrobe is a shop – an emporium – that requires serious delving and for the committed second-hand shopper, what is more heavenly than that?