It’s sustainable, fashionable and comparatively easy on the pocket
What do Princess Diana and Frank Ocean have in common? Gorpcore! The late Princess’s iconic ski look from 1995 and Ocean’s yellow puffer worn at Paris fashion week 2019 are the It-outdoor attire we need.
Despite the hefty price tags on high-end brands, the accessibility of Gorpcore has been praised by the fashion industry. But how true is this? Can effortless celebrity Gorpcore looks be mimicked at your local vintage shop?
Grace Nicholls and Ben Jones head to Flamingo’s Vintage in Cardiff to find out.
Princess Diana’s Lech ski look
Princess Diana’s iconic look from a 1995 skiing holiday in Austria consists of a quarter-zip jumper layered over a turtleneck sweatshirt. These items were easy to find and sported unique designs in bold colours.
A vintage store stocked with many Gorpcore pieces turned out to be the perfect place to look for a replica of this royal outfit. The prices weren’t always budget-friendly but if you want ethical, well-loved pieces for your sustainable wardrobe, we couldn’t recommend vintage shopping enough.
A pair of round sunglasses for UV light protection looked stylish with the outfit.
While the vintage ski boots we found felt a bit less practical for outdoor wear (remember to buy carefully when opting for secondhand), they tied the outfit together and ultimately gave us a great replica. One thing’s for sure, if you’re looking for some Gorpcore inspiration, a vintage store is a good place to start.
Frank Ocean’s effortless Gorpcore look
Recreating Frank Ocean’s 2019 Paris fashion week look initially did not seem like too much of a challenge. I believed finding a yellow puffer, washed-out jeans and a winter beanie in a local vintage shop would be a breeze.
In a way, I was right: the wide range of Gorpcore pieces in the shop was overwhelming. However, the real problem was the sizes.
I trawled through more pairs of jeans than I’ve ever owned before stumbling across a perfectly-coloured pair of Carhartt jeans that looked well over ten years old.
The only problem was that I’m a 36 waist, and the jeans were a 34. I decided I could just suck in my gut for the photo opportunities.
Finding a yellow jacket proved the easiest part of creating the look, mainly because the colour makes the jacket stand out like a local traffic warden. A two-minute browse of the jacket rails resulted in finding the perfect North Face overcoat.
But, the jacket is that it lacked the ‘puffer’ quality of Frank Ocean’s snazzy Arc’teryx piece. To solve this, I complemented the North Face jacket with a colour-matched bodywarmer on top, keeping in mind the advice from stylist Megan Wilson that I’d previously read in a CNN article, “silhouettes are often a little looser and baggier, so it’s easier to layer pieces.”
To complete the look, I just needed a beanie. I knew I wouldn’t be able to completely match Frank Ocean’s Arc’teryx heavily patterned hat, so I settled with a plain grey one. Voilà! The look was complete.
Upon re-creating these looks, we really enjoyed searching through numerous vintage items in search of the most similar bits. While there are some differences, it is definitely easy to style iconic looks without the unattainable price tag.