When you are first exploring the vintage world it can be incredibly overwhelming. There are so many different styles, products, brands and sellers - it is very difficult for someone new to vintage to know exactly what to buy.

I have been there!

When I first started seriously getting into vintage clothing I found a few sellers who had things I liked, and I just bought them. In hindsight, these were not the best purchases; first of all I bought them out of season. In Australia the seasons are opposite to the northern hemisphere, so I was looking for summer dresses in the midst of a northern hemisphere winter. No wonder the selection was so limited! So I bought things that when I look at them now are nice pieces but they aren't amazing. Secondly, I paid way too much, as I wasn't familiar with vintage pricing.

So, before you go and splurge make sure you take some time to look around. Find vintage sellers who sell things that you like, who have an aesthetic is aligned with yours. And keep an eye on how often they post, what they post, their sizing range and of course their price points. Some vintage items command very high prices, and this is not always because the seller just feels like pricing it high, it may be a rare designer or a piece of significance. Some items are also very desired so the rule of supply and demand applies which drives prices up.

For some items, the pricing is purely supply and demand driven. An example of these is novelty print skirts. At any one time there may be a more or less desired item, and a novelty print may suddenly gain popularity when it is featured in a movie or a TV show. The classic example of this is the giraffe panel skirt which was featured in the Movie Back to the Future Part 2, where the main character Lorraine wore this skirt in a scene. This has created significant demand for this skirt, and prices have sky rocketed from around US$100 a few years ago, to around US$800 today. In my opinion these skirts are generally good investment pieces as they are very wearable and as time goes on these pieces will become harder to find in good to excellent condition, however it is important to buy only those that are in excellent condition and in the example of panel skirts have as many panels as possible.

If you are desiring a hard to get and coveted piece, then it's important that you recognise that these pieces get snapped up very quickly, sometimes within seconds. So be prepared to be fast on the purchase button and also do not get too disheartened if you miss out, just keep your eyes peeled and consistently look out for the item you're after. If you build a good relationship with vintage sellers, let them know what you are looking for as they may give you a heads up if they find one or if they know of someone else who has one that is selling.

So, purchase carefully and purchase well! If you take good care of your vintage pieces and you have bought well, it is very possible that your item will increase in value over time.