Rx Vintage: Wardrobe Medicine

Rx Vintage is a fashion-by-mail service that will send you a monthly "prescription" of timeless pieces, selected especially for you and accompanied by personalized styling tips. After you fill out a questionnaire with your measurements and your taste, the shoppers do the rest of the work for you. Unlike the doctor, Rx lets you pick your own dosage: $29/month for one item, $49/month for two items, or $99/month for five items. Currently spots are limited, but you can apply for an invitation.

*** Update: The prices are going to be raised on April 15th, BUT free shipping will be included! New monthly numbers: $48, $75, and $130. Rx Vintage kindly offered to extend the original lower prices for six months if you put "fashionfragile" in the "Referred by" box.



I am particularly drawn to Rx Vintage because of their focus on sustainability and heritage quality. Their philosophy comes through in the FAQ section: "By purchasing vintage clothes you are being more green and helping the environment. You are reducing the amount of natural resources that is used in producing a new piece of clothing. You are not contributing in polluting the environment with the emissions from factories or the chemicals used to manufacture clothes." They point out that in the past there was "an emphasis on craftsmanship, detailing work was done by hand instead of a machine. Clothes back then had to last longer since people bought clothes infrequently".

CEO Celina Linley kindly answered some questions about her process and experience. She was very gracious for putting up with my lengthy queries, especially this first one:

"Vintage clothing provides the wearer with a literal connection to the past. And yet even when you have history next to your skin, it can remain mysterious. Several times I've searched a name from a tag and gone through pages of Google results, before ending up stymied because no one bothered to write a Wikipedia entry about a brand that lapsed from relevancy decades ago. What advice would you give to people who want to learn more about the pieces they wear?"

// Nancy Drew ::: American Bad-Ass //

Celina: "I get a little Nancy Drew as well. Clearly Google is amazing at most things. Yet the insanely cute tiny and obscure fashion brands don't win the prize. Vintage Fashion Guild is an awesome resource for anyone looking to catalog the obscure, a great source of info on older labels. I always find it more interesting to ask my fashionable older female relatives or friends to try to place a now-defunct label." [Bold added.]

Next question: "If you could provide an Rx Vintage prescription to any current public figure, who would it be?"

Celina: "This is a tough one, while I have tons of people that inspire me, people like Panti Bliss, Lorde, Maria Linden from I Break Horses all the way to Oprah. I definitely didn't start this to style celebrities. I have had plenty of experience picking looks for celebs, but the idea of Rx was to make that level of service available to anyone. It really makes me way more happy to style our clients. They have already placed their trust in us to find them amazing pieces. We have a current client that we admire. Through her sheer dedication and perseverance she has lost over 160 pounds and counting. Since she's been with us she has lost more than 3 inches in her measurements. That inspires me and makes me and our staff work extra hard to give her amazing picks that show off her accomplishment. As much as I love and am inspired by so many amazing women in the world, I would rather work extra hard to make sure all of our clients know how beautiful and unique they all are."

// Panti Bliss on Twitter //

Obviously Celina is a sweetheart. I asked her one more thing: "Do you still shop for fun now that it's part of your profession?" She answered that balancing motherhood and entrepreneurship is very demanding. But she added, "Envisioning certain pieces on my clients while shopping is definitely one of the fun things I get to do. When I do have a chance to sneak away I can't resist a good dance party. I believe everyone, even us mammas, have to be able to cut loose once in a while." Amen to that!