About

Fashion is my passion. All my childhood clothes and accessories were sewn by my local community and my mum. All the jewellery I had came from Europe. Most of my clothing was gifted, or hand-me-downs from my extended Italian family.

Brace yourself: I grew up on a farm in rural Australia, running after all sorts of animals. My parents are Italian, from Puglia, so style, fashion and image were always strong influences in our family. It’s in our blood.

And then there were the Italian weddings. Six hundred guests, seven courses, and everyone looking at what everyone else was wearing. I called them the cousin catwalk competition.

Today I write about opulent lifestyle for gracieopulanza.com, and I am an editor at menstylefashion.com, which I started in 2012. Both are online magazines. This one is different. Vintage Style Clothing is personal. It is where I talk about vintage clothing, and antiques too.

Why vintage

Why would you buy something another person has already owned? For me, it is about the hunt, the rarity, and also the price. I like to know I got a good bargain. It is hard work, going through second-hand shops and markets to find the pieces that belong to me. But it is that hunt that brings the reward.

I once came across a boutique in Italy where all the clothes were made in the 1980s and 1990s. The owner was 85. She noticed that I knew quality wool, and came up to ask me how I could tell. I sorted through endless wool skirts, unworn, still priced in lira. I kept the labels and tags on mine, as a reminder of the fashion of the past.

Clothes do that for my soul: wearing items that no one else in the world may have.

How I choose

I go by the fabric. I will rarely wear anything that is not leather, silk or wool, and finding wool that feels like wool is part of the joy. Then I put it on. If I feel great in it, it belongs to me.

I ignore the size on the label. In some cases I go up three sizes. Who cares, as long as it fits.

I don’t buy in seasons. I am never in vogue. I am always ahead of it, or most of the time behind it. I don’t shop at Zara, I don’t shop at Primark, I don’t even shop at Gucci. Not the new Gucci, anyway.

And I don’t buy the label. I once found a pair of Prada shoes in a charity shop. I wore them twice, lost them, and cried. You know what? It was the best thing that ever happened. Don’t ever think that a luxury brand states who you are.

The shoe problem

Women and shoes are just genetic. I even pray when I go out to the shops not to buy a pair. Before you know it, I have bought a new pair. A shoe is only a shoe until Gracie Opulanza steps into it.

Where I hunt

I live in a 400-year-old farmhouse in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, with about 10,000 olive trees around it. My neighbours are the wild boar. They have no opinion on what I wear.

Arezzo has its antique market on the first Sunday of every month and the Saturday before, and Lucca has its vintage market. I hunt in both. I am past fifty, and at fifty we are older and colder, so the wool comes home with me.

When I am not at the markets, I hunt online at Vestiaire Collective, where I am an Expert Seller. See what I am selling there.

What I find, I write about here: how to tell that a piece is real, what to check before you pay, and how I wear it. If you want to ask me about a piece, write to me.

Don’t bury your gold. Wear it.

Expert SellerGracie Opulanza on Vestiaire Collective

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