I found $5500 Céline crystal dress for $30
And then found $5800 crystal skirt for $150
There was a time (and a place) when I could find Céline pieces for unbelievable prices. I mean I still somehow manage to find a good price, but not like that. So story about the dress is probably my most favourite one (along with buying Céline Luggage bag for a price of a takeaway coffee but that story is short and there’s not much more to tell). And the only story where I could use the word crystal for so many times :)
There were several pieces with crystals in the Fall 2017 collection - black velvet sleeveless dress, black velvet long sleeve top, beige and white long sleeve tops, black and red leather skirts, and white, beige and black soft v-neck pumps.
I haven’t seen a black velvet dress anywhere before I saw the listing but I knew about this crystal collection. And I could say it’s authentic from the labels inside. Photos from the listing were horrible, but the state of the dress was even worse. More than half of the crystals fell off and it looked so sad. I asked the seller if she still had the crystals, she said yes and I ordered it. Price for the dress was $30.
It looked like this when it arrived a few days later.
Crystals had a resin base that was glued (I think) to the fabric. There were three sizes and glue marks were different sizes as well so I could see which crystal was from where.
So I ordered a glue that I could use on velvet and spent a night glueing crystals back! My strategy was to make the front first, then the back and what’s left I would use on the sides. Soon I realised there were not enough crystals to cover all the marks so I had to reorganise them a few times to cover the most visible areas.
Here’s a little timelapse and yes, I’m wearing a headlamp :)
After getting it all done I contacted the seller to ask if she could look for the missing crystals and a few days later she told me she found a few. I was so happy, even one piece could make a difference! But then she disappeared and blocked me :) The dress still misses around 15 crystals but on the other hand that is what makes it so special to me.
I looked everywhere for a photo from a lookbook or any reference and finally found a top from the same black velvet fabric. Price for the top was $5000. And then I found price for the dress, which was $5500. So I bought it for less than 1% of the original price. Crazy!
Coincidentally one week later I found crystal shoes in beige, it was in December so I had several occasions ahead of me to dress up, which was perfect! This dress and these shoes were actually my outfit to celebrate New Year.
And then last summer I saw a black leather skirt from the same collection. We’ve just moved to Tel Aviv so shopping was on pause but I put it on my favorites list anyway. Once in a while I checked on its price, it was slowly reducing but still no one was buying it. On the photos you could see there was a crystal missing, but it was lying next to the skirt, so it was not a problem at all.
Initial price of the listing was $400. After thinking about it for almost a month and after the price has been already reduced to $200 I decided to buy it. When authentication team received the skirt, they contacted me to let me know that more crystals were missing (not again) and that seller didn’t find them. Also label with a size and material was missing as well. I could ask for a refund and cancel my order, but instead I asked if the seller was open to a price negotiation and we agreed on $150. Again, RRP was $5800. Same skirt in red is currently available on Vestiaire Collective, if you’re interested! I’m not sure what size is mine, if I had to guess I would say size FR40.
So now I have three Céline pieces with crystals (every piece is missing a few, including shoes - one crystal was lost on the heel) and I would love to own all of them. For me these garments are so Céline, classy with a bit of twist and a bit of fun.
So with this story I wanted to say that of course it was an incredible experience to buy something in Céline boutique. To enjoy the interior design, to have everything wrapped, to ask for a lookbook, to try something on in the perfect dressing room. I wish I had more of this and tried every pair of shoe and every piece of clothing. But all of that can’t compare with the adventurous feeling of looking for something on resale and excitement of finding it. Even if it’s something that needs your care or repairing or tailoring!
And especially with the dress, price is only a part of the story, but the process of glueing the crystals, thinking how to make it work with the crystals I had and what to do with the missing ones, reorganising them, this was what made it super special to me.
Please share your stories if you have similar ones, I would love to hear them!
Yours,
Veronika
One of my favourite stories. It is truly a Céline love story 🫶🏻
Love the story and your DIY video with a headlamp! :)