Find It Before Everyone Else Does

A Sophia Kokosalaki dress is currently $28 on The RealReal. Another is $38.25. On Vestiaire, thirteen Kokosalaki dresses run from £74 to £641.

Kokosalaki had been showing for years by the time she designed the costumes for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympics. In Spring 2003, her black jersey dresses were cut around the body and held against bare skin with fine silk chain stitching. Byzantine art appeared in faded teal, terracotta and metallics, with smoky crystals, tiny mirrors and Greek votive images of hearts and eyes worked into the collection.

[Image to add: sourced. Sophia Kokosalaki Spring 2003 black jersey chain-stitched dress (Vogue Runway). Caption: “Black jersey and fine chain stitching at Sophia Kokosalaki Spring 2003.”]

For Fall 2009, cropped leather jackets were embroidered with tarnished metal, a chain-mail bolero appeared over black and nude jersey was draped close to the body. Black tulle was wrapped over lingerie slips. Vogue noted that, even after ten years in business, Kokosalaki could still count as a discovery.

The current resale prices haven't settled into anything approaching a pattern. Alongside the two inexpensive RealReal dresses, Vestiaire has examples at £74, £80 and £114, then others at £290, £315 and £641. Three recently sold there for £75, £81 and £109.

ANNE VALÉRIE HASH

For Spring 2010 couture, Anne Valérie Hash asked people she admired to send her something from their wardrobes. Alber Elbaz sent striped pyjamas, Jean Paul Gaultier a Breton shirt, Tilda Swinton a Vivienne Westwood T-shirt, Daphne Guinness a Chanel jacket, Charlotte Rampling a spencer and Pete Doherty a military-style jacket.

Elbaz's pyjamas came back as a trompe l'oeil jumpsuit. Gaultier's stripes curled around the neckline of a sequined all-in-one. Part of Swinton's Westwood T-shirt ran vertically through a jacket, while Diane Pernet's veil became a chiffon hood.

[Image to add: sourced. Anne Valérie Hash Spring 2010 Couture (Vogue Runway). Caption: “Anne Valérie Hash Spring 2010 Couture, made using clothes donated by Alber Elbaz, Tilda Swinton, Jean Paul Gaultier and others.”]

Eight years earlier, Hash had put the waistband and pocket linings of a pair of men's trousers around the neck and used the trouser legs as sleeves. A large Moroccan shirt became a skirt, with its collar at the waist and its sleeves knotted behind the body. Conventional suiting was shown with translucent hand-loomed Moroccan silk and Lesage embroidery.

Vestiaire currently has more than 80 Anne Valérie Hash pieces. Silk dresses appear around the £50 mark, a wool dress is £55 and one dress has been reduced to £35. The listings move between relatively simple silk pieces and the asymmetric cuts and reconstructed details that make the older collections worth opening alongside them.

PETER PILOTTO

There are more than 300 Peter Pilotto dresses on The RealReal. Among them are silk and printed dresses at $12, $14, $18 and $22.75. One printed mini is currently $25, with an estimated original retail price of $995.

Spring 2012 looked rather different. Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos had travelled through Indonesia before the collection, bringing back aquatic imagery, hothouse flowers and intense colour. Dresses borrowed the close fit of scuba suits, sculpted skirts projected away from the body and Nicholas Kirkwood made Perspex-heeled shoes covered in plastic flowers for the runway.

[Image to add: sourced. Peter Pilotto Spring 2012 aquatic-print runway look (Vogue Runway). Caption: “Aquatic prints, sculpted skirts and scuba references at Peter Pilotto Spring 2012.”]

Pilotto's prints are easy to recognise in resale photographs, but the earlier collections are worth a closer look at the cut. Christopher De Vos had previously worked at Vivienne Westwood and brought draping into the partnership, twisting dresses around the body and moulding jackets into shape. By Spring 2014, lace and embroidery were layered over engineered prints, with sections of crinoline visible beneath sculpted skirts.

With hundreds of dresses currently available, there's room to pass over the ones that are only bright and keep scrolling for the peculiar cuts, layered surfaces and prints that can be traced back through the collections.

THAKOON

A Thakoon printed mini is currently $16 on The RealReal, while Vestiaire has silk dresses starting below £40. A Thakoon for Barneys dress listed at $40 is covered in pale pink roses, with pleating, pockets and an inside-out fabric detail.

Thakoon Panichgul's florals were considerably more visible in 2008. Michelle Obama wore one of his floral dresses to the Democratic National Convention, and Vogue was soon spotting his patterned pieces on editors around New York Fashion Week. Spring 2009 had more flowers, but roses grew legs across organza. Kisses covered a sheer trench, corsetry appeared around exposed midriffs and nude fabrics were bound around the body.

[Image to add: sourced. Thakoon Spring 2009 rose-print dress or kiss-print trench (Vogue Runway). Caption: “Roses grew legs and kisses covered sheer fabric at Thakoon Spring 2009.”]

Michelle Obama continued wearing Thakoon after becoming First Lady, while The September Issue brought him to an audience far beyond the shows. Spring 2010 mixed the printed dresses Vogue already regarded as a signature with kimono cutting, technical fabrics, pleating and harder shapes.

The $40 Barneys dress isn't a runway piece, but the inside-out detail is enough to make the listing worth opening. From there, the Spring 2009 collection offers much better search terms than simply typing “Thakoon floral dress”: the legged roses, kiss print and sheer trench are all out there somewhere.