What happens when you throw eight fashion designers together with a wonderful wardrobe of pre-loved pieces, add in a career-defining prize, plus a healthy (ish!) dose of terror?
RE/style, the new competition series on Prime Video.
The concept is simple: across six weeks, the show follows a handpicked group of talented young designers, who are given challenges by the show’s judges – fashion director Zadrian Smith and renowned stylist Melissa Holdbrook-Akposoe. At the end of the contest, the winning designer will present their collection at London fashion week, and their designs will be sold exclusively on secondhand marketplace, Vinted.
At first glance, it might seem similar to other fashion competition TV shows. But aside from the fact that it’s hosted by Emma Willis – who is, somehow, British TV’s chicest and nicest woman – there are two key differences. First, every task is about transforming secondhand clothes into runway-ready looks, with access to a wardrobe stocked with a vast array of pre-loved garments.
And second is that, on this runway, no one is declared “out”. Each week, alongside a selection of all-star fashion industry guests, the judges will decide who is the “head designer” – the person who totally nailed the brief. And seeing as it’s a competition, they’ll also decide who came up short. But crucially, all of the designers will stay in the competition to the end. This gives us plenty of time to follow their #journeys, and also to see which designers can cut a pattern of redemption for themselves. (After all, fashion loves a comeback.)
Recapped: welcome to our eight contestants
In the first episode, the vibe is very much “meet the contestants”. And what a bunch they are: the eight designers come from totally different places, with an eclectic mix of stylistic influences, ages and accents. Guisy, who’s 24, comes from a small town in Puglia, Italy, while 21-year-olds David and Alejandro come from near Valencia and Seville, Spain. (None of Alejandro’s family know he’s competing, except his mother, who has been sworn to secrecy.)
The contestants: Shanie, Emily, Guisy, David, Saabira, Alejandro, Chiara and Charlotte
Shanie, 26, from Paris, always knew she wanted to be a designer, while 27-year-old Chiara, from Italy, first became obsessed with fashion when she was little, when she would play with the clothes in her dressing-up box and deconstruct them. She says she’s “always loved” incorporating pre-loved clothing into her designs, because “you can find so many little treasures”.
Parisian fashion buyer Charlotte, 36, is the only one of the eight who is entirely self-taught. And rounding off the group is the British contingent: 29-year-old street-style enthusiast Saabira, from east London, and 22-year-old Emily, from Yorkshire, who tells us that “sustainability always runs its way” through her designs.
Each week on RE/style, the judges will give the contestants a task. In the first episode, on hand to help is designer Henry Holland – whose irreverent designs went viral in the pre-Instagram era, spawning his eponymous brand, House of Holland. The first task is to create a look which embodies their “signature style”, entirely made and styled using pre-loved pieces. Oh, and they only have six hours to complete the task. (What could possibly go wrong?)
Top: Emily from Yorkshire; below: Zadrian, Melissa, Henry and Emma check in on David from Spain
Self-described “hat enthusiast” David is designing an oversized sailor shirt-dress, in keeping with the nautical style he grew up with on the Spanish coast. His design features exaggerated cuffs and, of course, a sailor hat. Emily is making a western-inspired denim menswear jacket with an oversized collar and cuffs. The jacket uses different textures of fabric, with patterns from cowboy boots as inspiration. Saabira’s signature style is all about streetwear, so she’s creating a bomber jacket with detachable sleeves and a pair of oversized “jorts”. (That’s jean-shorts, if you’re unfamiliar.)
Alejandro is making a leather and tulle dress, playing with the theme of hard and soft, with hand-sewn red embellishments. And in stark contrast, Shanie’s design is more pared down. Using a delicate draping technique, she’s making a neutral-coloured 3D dress, styled with bespoke jewellery pieces which were also created with pieces from the secondhand wardrobe. With only six hours on the clock, the task demonstrates that pre-loved clothing can work with any aesthetic.
In the first RE/style runway show, the judges are joined by broadcast journalist and sustainability advocate Stacey Dooley. “We’re consuming clothes at such a rate and it’s trashing the planet – quite literally,” she says. “So the idea that we’re repurposing clothes and keeping them in circulation is very important.”
Showtime
On the runway, Emily and Chiara’s designs both channelled western influences, while also riffing off the wider country revival we’ve seen everywhere from Paris fashion week to the crowds at pop concerts. (And it’s the type of aesthetic you might recreate using the hashtags #Cowboy and #Western on Vinted, with accessories from #Vintage70s.) And whatever your preferred style, shopping on Vinted means you can choose from pieces which span eras and designs, giving you the option to introduce 90s and Y2K staples into your current wardrobe in a way that feels very “2025”.
Elsewhere on the catwalk, there was no shortage of drama. Some designers ran out of time and, as a result, their looks suffered. Others showed real creative potential and adaptability, proving that confidence can be the best signature style of all. And the “head designer”? Well, they blew the judges away with their ambition and execution. To find out who came out on top, you’ll have to watch the episode …
Restyled: Louis’s lessons for finding your own signature style
For those of us who aren’t fashion designers, it might feel that creating your own signature style is getting more difficult – especially when algorithms feed us more and more of the same. (Who among us hasn’t bought something from a targeted social media #ad that, ahem, didn’t live up to expectations?) Vinted’s pre-loved marketplace allows you to break that cycle. If you decide something you’ve purchased on a whim elsewhere isn’t for you, then it’s easy to list it on Vinted, so it can find a new home. (This isn’t just a money-saver, it’s a shame-saver.)
Creating your own personal style is all about experimenting. I first learned this when I was at university in Brighton, where I’d often skip my most boring lecture on Thursday afternoons to scour the city’s many vintage shops. (I bought a lilac bomber jacket that I still wear today, which has paid for itself many times over in compliments.) And in a trend-obsessed culture where it feels like nothing is made to last, I’ve discovered that there can be something freeing about noticing a specific fashion micro-trend and accepting that it’s not for you. (Sorry, jorts lovers, I’m going to sit this one out.)
In that sense, personal style is all about working out what you really like – and the sorts of clothes you actually wear. Personally, I’d love to dress like a character from Mad Men every day, but unfortunately, those formal 60s clothes would gather dust in my wardrobe, so I save them for special occasions like weddings instead. And the most fun part of this is taking inspiration from different places – perhaps it’s a specific decade in fashion, like the 90s garms that Sarah Michelle Gellar wore to (literally) slay in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Joey Tribbiani’s knitwear collection in the early seasons of Friends? Or maybe you’ve noticed an unsung style icon, like Sex and the City’s Stanford Blatch? Whatever you’re drawn to, in Vinted’s pre-loved marketplace, exploring your personal style will always be in fashion.
Resold: why Vinted is the place for experimenting with your look
Vinted’s marketplace is basically a shortcut to exploring your signature style. There’s an inbuilt sense of individuality to pre-loved pieces that you’re less likely to see on anyone else, and the variety on offer can help you to discover hidden gems that you never knew you needed.
If you’re a Vinted newbie, a great way to find clothes to match your signature style is to follow the wardrobes of sellers whose style you like. And why not try selling pieces that no longer feel like you, so they can be part of someone else’s story?
Ready to find your signature style? Discover it on Vinted
