We don’t always learn our lessons the first time do we? Yep, we are back and testing out more ‘fake vintage’ from online sources and this time it’s a ‘vintage’ suit, from good old Aliexpress. Now I have shopped from Aliexpress before and it’s been a bit hit or miss; after my last fake vintage test from eBay, I was flooded with messages asking to test out more fake vintage so I listened and here we are today. Strap yourselves in because this is going to be another epic vintage adventure.

Aliexpress is an online marketplace store with all sorts of weird and wonderful items. It’s well known for knockoffs, super cheap prices and much uncertainty for what will arrive on your doorstep. In order to keep this fair, I made sure to scour the site and look for a true vintage image as the main item listing. There are heaps of cheap vintage-inspired dresses and to be fair, the word ‘vintage’ is thrown about like free candy. It wasn’t easy to find any true vintage images which I thought quite odd; compared to eBay, it was a challenge to find a true vintage image but then again, Aliexpress doesn’t promote the fact that it sells vintage or even second hand. Alas, after more searching I found our listing.

Behold, the Runway New Fashion High Quality 2019 Summer Party Workplace Sexy Jacket Grey Pencil Half skirt Vintage Elegant Chic Women’S Set. Jeepers what a mouthful all to say “vintage-inspired women’s suit”. This lovely number retails for $44.80 USD, is only available in Dark Grey and comes in sizes small to extra large. I had a look at their sizing chart and ordered the large. I was given free shipping which was a lovely little bonus and I awaited my order. Now it’s hard to tell how long it took to ship; I ordered the item on the 13th of May and it arrived sometime at the end of June but remember, all shipping is slow because of the current state of the world and to be honest, I didn’t mind waiting, I was enjoying some quiet time at home. All up, this item cost me around $55 AUD which is still a decent price to pay for something like this if you’re on a budget.

So, what actually arrived on my doorstep? Nestled inside a plastic bag was my dark grey suit. There was no weird or pungent smell upon opening the bag was which good to note. Upon inspecting the suit, there seemed to be an odd shimmer in the fabric which I thought was a trick of the light. In some lights it was obvious and in others, it wasn’t. The buttons seemed to be sewn on well and none were overly loose despite them not really looking overly vintage. They are made out of thin, hollow plastic and depict a coat of arms with the letter ‘k’ in the centre. I’m unsure if they mean anything in particular but to be honest, I’m not that crash hot about them.

The jacket and skirt were both fully lined which was nice. I was hoping the material would be more of a wool looking blend but the inner label says 100% cotton (it feels like it has some kind of polyester in it to be perfectly honest). The material isn’t overly thick but it’s not super thin either. Wearing it on a cold day kept me nice and warm which was a pleasant surprise. It was not easy to remove the wrinkles from the fabric and it took quite a bit of steaming to get it looking decent. It wrinkled quite easily whilst wearing it which was a little disappointing.

The fit; the skirt fits really well and I would happily wear it on its own again in the future. It was perfect on the waist and around my bu, it wasn’t overly tight and it reached me just above my knees. It’s certainly not as long as it’s depicted on the true vintage image but it’s quite close. Now the jacket; I’m not sure what went wrong with the sizing but it was massive! I think I could have gone down almost two sizes. It was very large and baggy, especially on the waist. I wasn’t a fan of how the underarms were fitted and I think they were too large to look good on me. According to the size chart, I hovered between the Medium and Large and went with the large. If I had gone with the Medium, the skirt would not have fit but the jacket would have been better. I wish I could custom order my sizes for each piece but I know that’s not really how online shopping works. 

I really struggled to feel good in this outfit. Even though I only had less than 5 minutes to photograph it, I am not happy with how it looked on me. When my arms were down, the underarms pushed out and looked weird. When I moved my arms around, the whole waist looked baggy and creased. It was a bit awkward and I honestly don’t really want to share the photos. 

Final thoughts
I’m not angry, just disappointed. Obviously, it’s not true vintage but of course, it never was going to be. The point of this experiment was to see what would arrive when the main image was vintage. I was fine with the style, colour and quality but it’s just the fit that let me down in the end. I would have to take the jacket in by several inches to makeit properly fit me but the whole thing is just miles too big.
I think I will end up changing the buttons to make it feel more vintage because in all honesty, it just felt like an odly shaped modern work suit. I think they tried to go for a vintage shape but didn’t quite get there and made it just a little awkward and cumbersome.

For those curious where the original vintage came from, after a little bit of research, I found it was taken in August 1953. It depicts a model wearing a muff and suit outside Christian Dior’s boutique in Paris (Photo by Kurt Hutton/Picture Post/Getty Images). I don’t know what watermark Aliexpress tried to remove near the model’s legs but the original Christian Dior sign is definitely removed. Of course, the suit I received is not Christian Dior … maybe one day!

I will continue this mini-series as per all of your requests. I’ve got a few things you have requested me to test out but I’ll only do one at a time so I can make sure the reviews don’t feel rushed. I’m hoping to test out Wish and Alibaba next. There is also a special review in the works which is a bit of a side story from this series so check back to hear all about it.
If you have any ‘fake vintage’ you want me to test out, please let me know. I am always keen to hear what you guys want to see and of course, feel free to send links to items and I can see what I can do.

Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. There are no affiliate links and I do not benefit from any link clicks or purchases made.