Online shopping is a hellscape. And I do not mean that lightly. I just want a cute dress, right? Going into this, my understanding was that I wanted a black pinafore with suspenders and buttons, both functional buttons ( for the suspenders ) and decorative ( for the cute factor ) on the front. Ankle length or knee length, preferably. It's getting cold and I want a cute dress for autumn to wear with my blouses.
A simple ask, right? A simple desire, surely I'll be able to locate such a thing in a matter of minutes. Apparently not! So, I can admit when I was wrong - what I'm looking for is not just a pinafore, but it COULD be: A pinafore, an apron dress, or a suspender dress, I have seen things close to what I want described with all these labels.
I try to do most of my online clothing shopping on places like Ebay, Depop, Etsy, secondhand stuff. Because everything else either costs a fortune or is fast fashion, with little inbetween and a shocking amount of overlap. That being said, even on these places I am absolutely inundated with fast fashion nonsense as it has completely permeated the internet in it's entirety.
Tell me, dear reader, does this 30 dollar "lolita" article look like a suspender dress to you? It doesn't, right? Why is it being shown with shoes and a handbag on top? Does it come with those? Why would it? So I continue scrolling and yup, it's more cheap fast fashion lolita no one asked for!
MAYBE you could argue these are "suspender" dresses if you were REALLY desperate to get the upper hand on me because I suppose spaghetti straps mean it's "suspended", but no reasonable human would think "Suspender dress" when they see this, because that's not what it is! So, I give up and ask some friends. "Oh, Killstar might have what you're looking for!" Oh, maybe, for 90 AMERICAN DOLLARS??
90 DOLLARS FOR WHAT IS OSTENSIBLY FAST FASHION IN A
Motherfucking Trenchcoat????
I'm comfortable saying this, I've shopped with Killstar before in the past, I'm sure many of you have, their shit is NOT high quality. I've seen Shein pieces on the same level of quality as some of their clothes, the main difference is that Killstar is ostensibly Goths-R-Us both in the way that they sell mass produced garbage AND they have name recognition so they get to charge you half a week's wages for a full outfit.
Big American retail carriers - like Nordstron, Macy's, Target, all carry the same brands, and they're somehow even more fucking overpriced half the time. I found multiple listings for this "City chic" brand pinafore and they're all over a hundred fucking dollars, with Nordstrom tacking an extra 40 dollars on for whatever reason because I guess they're ✨Special✨
So, back to resellers on ebay and depop I go, and after MUCH scrolling through people trying to pawn off their shein and hot topic garbage that's probably already disintegrating, I finally find something close to what i want - and wouldn't you know it? Its 2 sizes too small. Maybe I'll pay a visit to my nearest thrift store soon, though they rarely have much. Fuck this I'm staying butch until I die. Combat boots, oversized trousers, and ratty torn up shirts under studded jackets forever.
amandla
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