How to Get Authentic Designer Clothes for Less Than Lookalikes

There's lots of advice in the blogosphere on how to get designer looks for less, but why settle for that when you can get authentic high end designer clothes for less than look-alikes? I'm not talking about EBay-the true bargains there are few and far between these days-and I don't mean designer lines for discount stores, like Karl Lagerfeld for H&M. While those lines are fun for cheap thrills, they're basically authorized designer knockoffs. The best place to get real designer clothing for pennies is estate sales.

The terms estate sale, garage sale and yard sale are sometimes used interchangeably, but a true estate sale is run by someone other than a homeowner, and all of the contents of the home are being sold, usually due to a death, divorce or relocation. The distinction is important because if you're at a garage or yard sale, the owner of the items will be setting the prices. If she knows she paid $3,000 for that Gucci halter dress, she's not going to let it go for $30. An estate sale manager might, though.

He or she has been hired because someone doesn't want to be bothered with cleaning out the house. As long as everything is gone at the end of the sale and a decent profit was made, both sides are happy. But "used clothing" rarely sells for more than $5-$15 per garment, no matter what the label. And few estate sale companies are specialists in designer clothing, so they don't know that it has more value than that, even at resale.

If the idea of buying secondhand clothing creeps you out, get over it. In most cases these items come from the closets of rich women who bought them for some special event and wore them once or twice before tiring of them-they're really not any more used than clothing from department stores, which dozens of people may have tried on before you purchased it. Sometimes they still have tags on them, which means they were bought and never even worn. And when actresses on the red carpet are asked what they're wearing and their answer is, "Vintage?" You guessed it-high end secondhand clothes.

So once you've gotten over the stigma of purchasing clothes at estate sales, how do you find the best bargains? Check your local paper for advertisements for sales early in the week. Drive by the addresses to scope them out-you can't always tell a book by its cover, but you're more likely to find designer clothing in a well-maintained McMansion than a run-down Cape Cod. The most common schedules for sales are Thursday-Saturday or Friday through Sunday. There is a bigger selection at the beginning of a sale, but at the close you'll get deeper discounts, as they want to clean up and will sometimes literally give stuff away, so it's worth picking ones to visit on each day. Some people try to talk their way into a sale while it's setting up, but this practice is frowned upon (if the ads you're reading say "no early birds," that's what they mean).

Once you've found a sale that looks worthwhile, have patience. It is worthwhile to go through the garments item by item to find treasure amongst the trash. The $800 MaxMara trench jacket with fox collar I got recently for $15 was tucked in among pilly nylon sweat suits. Don't forget to check guest room closets too, as women who shop for sport frequently fill them. But don't go in any area that's blocked off or marked "private" or you could get yourself kicked out of the sale.

If you're the same size as the person who owned the clothes you're in luck, but if you're a size or two off, it's worth buying the items to resell on EBay. I know someone who bought a Dolce & Gabbana suit at the same sale where I got the MaxMara jacket- I passed it up because it was too small for me, but she sold it on EBay for $1,500, which is enough to buy a new one in a size that fits!

Finally, if you see items that are clearly of high quality but you don't recognize the label, don't pass them up. I found a beautiful handmade Italian cashmere coat from a brand I never heard of at another estate sale, but it garners compliments every time I wear it so who cares what the label says? If it was good enough for its original owner with her closet full of Chanel, it's good enough for me.