How Depop Helped Me Discover My Style
The secondhand clothing retail site has given me the tools to build my wardrobe and take fashion risks
February 9, 2023
Last week, I purchased a beautiful orange Cop Copine dress from Depop, and I began to think about my lengthy relationship with the app. Alongside the growing trend of thrifting in recent years, clothing resale sites such as Poshmark, eBay, Depop have grown in popularity. Depop was founded in 2011 in London, and since then, the platform has attracted over 26 million users who buy and sell clothing and accessories. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I stumbled upon many TikToks about Depop and how useful it is to find vintage clothing. I downloaded it in 2021 and created an account. I wouldn’t purchase anything for another year, but once I did, Depop quickly became my favorite of these sites.
Throughout my life, the male gaze controlled what I wore, and I was always afraid of wearing what I really wanted to wear. I was afraid of not looking feminine enough, and I forced myself to wear more “ladylike” clothing. I found myself wearing clothes that I didn’t even like. I wasted money on pitiful clothing that screamed “I’m a woman, don’t worry!” I was trapped in a bubble, feeling pressured to perform for others through my style. Depop helped me escape that feeling by introducing me to and submerging me in the world of secondhand clothing.
Depop is a distinct community that opened my eyes up to a world of fashion that only resellers would dare to enter — and I mean that literally. Some people sell whatever they have left over from their own wardrobes. Others exclusively resell designer clothes. My favorite sellers focus on pieces that fit with the current Y2K revival.
The hardest parts about shopping on Depop are finding the perfect piece among the sea of items, then making sure that the garment you’re purchasing will fit. Pro tip: Get a real measuring tape from a fabric store!
The first time I logged onto the app, I felt very intimidated. The resellers were the most immediately frightening because of all the Depop horror stories I had heard in the past, including misrepresented items and scams. Many of the styles that appeared before me were ones that I had never heard of before, and there were thousands of different pieces to choose from.
I finally made my first purchase in November 2022 — a very long time after I first downloaded the app. I bought a vintage, dark-wash denim maxi skirt covered with embroidered butterflies that cost me $20. I didn’t use the Depop algorithm; all I had to do was a simple search, and I found the perfect skirt.
When I wore the skirt to dinner one night, my friends were shocked at how beautiful it looked. They asked me where I got it from and began to guess thrift stores. When I told them it was from Depop, they gave me blank stares. They couldn’t believe that I found an amazing piece on Depop for such an affordable price.
My purchases didn’t stop there. I ended up purchasing another item: this time, it was a bubblegum pink top with the word ‘Botox’ written with rhinestones across the chest. It’s not technically a vintage piece, because it was from American Apparel (which might as well be vintage at this point), but now I can live out my 2014 Tumblr dreams. It instantly became a go-to top for me and even inspired me to book a photographer to take pictures of me in it.
The hardest parts about shopping on Depop are finding the perfect piece among the sea of items, then making sure that the garment you’re purchasing will fit. Pro tip: Get a real measuring tape from a fabric store! It will make measuring yourself easier and more accurate, and it is more likely that your Depop find will fit once it arrives (assuming that the seller labeled it correctly). I also recommend doing this when you go vintage clothes shopping in general, as it saves you a lot of hassle.
Depop tends to have a negative connotation due to the fact that resellers sometimes list items for way more than they’re worth. Building a wardrobe from Depop can be expensive, but you have to dig to find the best items, just like you would at a thrift store. You can find great items on Depop when you do a simple search. You can type “Vintage jean maxi skirt” in the Depop search bar, just like I did, and if it exists, you’ll most likely find the exact thing you’re imagining (although you might have to scroll a bit).
I love the app’s stellar algorithm because it curates a feed of pieces that I am interested in, and the app makes me feel like I have my own personal shopper.
My favorite thing about Depop is the algorithm. The app has a feature where you can like and save pieces that are being sold. Even if they sell out, the items you showed interest in will stay in your liked and saved folders, so they’ll still get factored into what the app shows you on the home page. I love the app’s stellar algorithm because it curates a feed of pieces that I am interested in, and the app makes me feel like I have my own personal shopper. With Depop, I began creating my own virtual closet, and I eventually figured out how I truly wanted to dress. My Depop folders of liked and shared items became my own collage of my ideal style. I felt like Cher from “Clueless.”
My experience with Depop has even led me to the point where almost all of my closet is secondhand. Recently, I have branched out from Depop and begun going to thrift stores, finding even more secondhand items that are perfect for my closet.
If it weren’t for Depop, I’m not sure I would have ever broken out of this bubble where I felt like I couldn’t express myself. Depop opened me up to a world of self-expression through clothing, and I’ve begun to feel good in what I’m wearing. I owe my newfound eccentric style and, ultimately, my entire closet to Depop.
