Nice to Meet You!

Do you ever think “if they can do it, why can’t I?” or “if only I were more like them, I’d do XYZ”? I am guilty of both.

I have a tendency to think, overthink, and then drift off into daydreams. I spend quite a bit of time on my own, and the daydreams get specific. Like, I wish I were born in France… I’d be French and European from day one, I’d speak French through no effort of my own, I’d live the best French life. And my name would be Annie with an “e.” Like Annie Girardot, a French actress. Oh, if only I were an actress, I’d be so special. People would ask me what I do for a living and I’d tell them I’m an actress, and everyone would know how special I am. And then what?

Or if only I were Italian — I would be this stylish, fiery woman like Anna Magnani, and I’d inherit unique, amazing pearls and diamonds from my chic Italian nonna who’s a Milanese sciura. And this can go on and on.

Other times, the daydreams are less cinematic and more practical. I think: why couldn’t I have been this person, or that person? Why couldn’t I be a brilliant fashion historian with so much knowledge and expertise that every cultural institution needs her? Or someone who founded Vestiaire Collective? Or someone who writes for The New Yorker? Or someone doing important work, something impressive, something clear and purposeful.

I indulge in these fantasies more often than I’d like to admit. Quite regularly, I have to interrupt myself, snap out of them and come back to reality. What a pointless exercise! What a waste of perfectly usable mental energy!

Yet at the same time, I worry that it will always be like this — that I will always, in some small (or big) way, want to be someone else. So with today’s letter, let me come back to reality and reintroduce myself. Me, Anni without an “e”. Because you know what? She’s pretty cool as she is!

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Today’s letter has two purposes. First, I want to introduce myself again, briefly. I think it’s important sometimes to remember who you are and what exactly it is you’re trying to say here. Second, I want to modestly announce that comme/neuf is becoming more regular and more focused.

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Hi! I am Anni. Nice to meet you.

In some of the early letters, I told you that the line I resonate with most is: “an Amazon package delivered to the wrong address.” It ties quite well with how this letter started. I suppose the “right address” would have been Paris. Like Diana Vreeland famously said. Yes, well. No shit, Diana.

Still, the metaphor is true for me. It is sort of central to my persona: I am somewhat from here, somewhat from there, but not fully and not quite. I officially live here, unofficially there, but again, not fully and not quite.

Anyway, the package: Anni, Georgian last name. Born and raised in St. Petersburg. A distinctly Georgian face that prompted a lifetime of “But where are you really from?” question. I moved to Berlin at 21 (as a tiny baby!!), and since then I’ve lived here and there. Let’s say I am now based in Europe.

Deep down, I still don’t know what the right address is. I never felt fully at home in Russia or Georgia, the places I’m actually from, so the question of whether I can feel at home somewhere else remains very open. These days, I feel most at home when I’m watching The Sopranos with my significant other, or when I’m visiting my mom and she’s making this for me. I’ve almost accepted that I may be permanently in transition. But let me tell you, this permanent transition is exhausting as hell.

More about me

• I am Duolingo! I read and research in Russian, English, German, and Georgian. I also fake‑speak Spanish, French, and Italian, which sounds useless until you learn that most of my best resale finds came from Italy and France simply because I knew how to phrase the search. “Giacca lana anni ‘90 ottimo” has gotten me further in life than many other things. I’m not even exaggerating. Actually, the name of this newsletter also came from resale: like/new, as in unworn.

• I love magazines, especially old ones. I have a 1950 Elle I bought on Vinted and wrote about recently, and I collect many more — here, look, there’s a link.

• I somewhat live in the past, and I don’t know who PinkPantheress is.

• I am a curious person who asks a lot of questions, probably too many questions. I am very specific about my taste. I dress mostly in dark colors, but my personality is colorful, so we’re good.

My clothes

• My actual wardrobe is small, and my imaginary wardrobe is extra large. Again with the daydreaming! I own four pairs of the exact same jeans (same model, same wash, same everything) because they are perfect and discontinued, and I need to feel safe. I have a 2001 runway Prada top that I’ve mentioned approximately fifty times in this newsletter and will probably mention fifty times more.

• I also have an Issey Miyake stone that I bought on Vinted for €20 and cannot explain. The seller never told me what it was for. I still don’t know.

• In Joan Juliet Buck’s words, I am “wired for plenty.” If I love something, my instinct is: where is its family? How many versions exist? What if something happens to the first one? This is not necessarily my favorite trait about myself, but nobody’s perfect.

The mission, since we’re being serious for a moment

Almost everything I own comes from resale, at least 95%. This is because I believe in resale. I believe the right thing already exists somewhere, maybe in a closet in Paris, or tucked away in a Milanese nonna’s drawer, and it just takes patience, curiosity, and also quite a lot of time on your hands. The time on my hands usually appears early in the morning because I am a very early bird.

Sometimes I am very lucky: a Jil Sander bag for €30 from a seller who had it for years, vintage Margiela in beautiful condition, a Yohji Yamamoto cardigan found on a Ukrainian resale platform and shipped to Germany by a seller I had to beg.

Sometimes I’m unlucky: amazing €8-deal mules that disintegrated on the street. “Decomposed” was the word a friend used. Sometimes it’s better to just buy a bowl of granola from a hip cafe. (Not that granola is as healthy as it pretends to be. Granola is a scam, and I am so annoyed about it.)

Still, resale is always the way to go for me, and I’m so glad it exists. It’s the only reason I can afford Jil Sander and the like, and I prefer the choices resale gives me: a million different brands, from different years, made by designers who may not even be designing anymore.

This belief is kind of becoming my mission. The environmental case becomes more documented every year (see the new Vestiaire Collective and WRAD report), and I plan to read and write more on this topic because I want to be more educated on this myself. I share Vestiaire’s philosophy here, and in an ideal world, I’d spend my working life with organizations that advocate for this approach. But for now, I’m doing it here, on Thursdays, with links.

Buying new (caveat)

Rarely, but it happens. When I do: only small independent brands, the ones run by small teams, making things carefully, where your money actually goes somewhere. I research those too, and I’ll happily tell you about them.

Why be here, why subscribe

What I have is a good eye. And what I have is years of experience finding things on Vinted, Vestiaire, eBay, eBay Kleinanzeigen, Sellpy, Shafa, Buyee, Imparfaite and more, and understanding which platforms hide what, and how to look. I know that Sellpy is underrated. I know that eBay Kleinanzeigen or Wallapop sellers often have no idea what they’re sitting on. I know the difference between “excellent condition” and what excellent condition actually means in practice. I have unorthodox resale tips, and I like to remind you of forgotten brands.

And most importantly, I believe in buying less but better. I am very passionate about this. I am very passionate about specific designers, and when I think about them, I feel genuine enthusiasm. I want to share that enthusiasm with you. That is, I think, the whole point.

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What’s happening with comme/neuf

A small update about the newsletter itself: comme/neuf, a European Resale Research Newsletter, is settling into a clearer rhythm. From now on, you’ll be receiving it every Thursday, alternating between two types of letters:

1. One week will be a more essay‑like deep dive into something I’ve been thinking about: designers I love, magazines I’ve found, objects I’ve become attached to, the way we relate to the things we own, and so on.

2. The following week will be Thrift Thursday: a curated list of finds from across European resale platforms. Sometimes it will revolve around a specific designer, sometimes a theme, and sometimes simply things that caught my eye that week. I’ll include notes about the platforms, search tips, useful keywords, and whatever else I’ve learned after spending an unreasonable number of hours looking for things on the internet.

Starting in April, Thrift Thursday will move behind a small paywall. The idea is also to gradually add more useful things for you — for example, taking specific resale search requests from readers and offering you a wardrobe built on resale.

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I love this newsletter, and I love the community around it. To me, however many people open these emails feels like the whole world. And the most unexpected thing about the past 1.5 years of comme/neuf is that I’ve made actual friends: people I now message about coats, but also about life. And that is extremely valuable to me.

So: very nice to meet you indeed. See you next Thursday!

xx Anni