FOR those who know their Dior from their YSL and their Chanel from their Gucci, designer vintage can be hailed as the best form of designer apparel out there.

Have a look at the outfit you are wearing while reading this.

It is nigh on a cert that every single element of it has come from the brain of somebody working for these brands, probably decades ago, because they not only create fads, they create principle staples that are timeless and recreated and turned to for inspiration every season.

Like it or not, on a daily basis you are affiliated to designers.

Vintage designer wear is a step closer to the originals at prestigious fashion houses and reflect the core values of any label closer than they possibly could.

Why? Because in most instances the people who created the brand were still alive and creating the fashion themselves.

When comparing the pieces of the past with those of today, clear efforts have clearly been made to ensure that when you pick up whatever the garment is, you know who it is by.

A trained eye can tell what fashion house it was born at and the fact that the looks are still fashionable today speaks volumes for the designer, so when buying vintage, you aren’t necessarily buying something out of fashion.

It’s just a bit older than the arm candy that Beyonce Knowles is hauling around with her.

The obvious point of going vintage with designer apart from getting an item so close to the first designer it is practically a prototype, is cost.

Unless you are a millionaire, or on a very sizeable income, these just aren’t feasible items to have in your wardrobe. When you are struggling to pay the water bill, the Chanel bag isn’t going to do it for you.

Enter designer vintage.

Now, unless you are very lucky, you aren’t going to find a YSL scarf for £2.99, you may still have to pay out a little of your cold hard cash, but it is nowhere near to what you would pay for a brand new version of a scarf that was inspired in the seventies.

Designer vintage is affordable and because it was designer when it was originally created, the chances are these are well looked after pieces of loveliness and will still look as beautiful as the day they were born.

If designer is just a dream then considering vintage designer could be the step forward to you finally getting your bragging rights, but also one step to owning a part of genuine fashion history.