The digital wishlist has quietly evolved from a shopping utility into fashion’s most honest psychological mirror. While Instagram offers a curated performance of who we pretend to be, the favorited items on Vinted—Europe’s €3.5 billion resale giant—reveal the raw, unfiltered trajectory of our desires. Following recent insights from The Guardian regarding the "aspirational underboob" phenomenon and the surge in "midlife knitwear," a new narrative is emerging: the second-hand market is no longer just about sustainability or affordability. It is a chaotic, authentic barometer of identity, signaling a widening chasm between the lives we lead and the luxury aesthetics we covet in secret.
The Psychology of the "Saved" Item
For decades, the fashion industry has relied on point-of-sale data to determine trends. If it sold, it was successful. However, this metric fails to capture the "almost"—the lingering desire that stops short of a transaction. The Vinted wishlist has become a repository for these dormant identities.
The current discourse, sparked by reporting on British consumer habits, suggests a fascinating dichotomy in resale behavior. Users are increasingly "saving" hyper-sexualized, high-fashion pieces—specifically the "underboob" cut-out aesthetic popularized by brands like Miu Miu, Nensi Dojaka, and Khaite—while their actual transaction history tells a story of practical, tactile comfort.
This behavior transforms the resale platform into a confessional booth. On social media, wearing a provocative cut-out dress requires a context: a vacation, a gala, a curated moment. On Vinted, the act of wishlisting is a private claiming of that identity without the social risk or the financial commitment. It represents a "fantasy self" that exists parallel to the consumer's reality.
Industry analysts have long treated resale as a secondary market, a place where trends go to die. The reality, however, is that platforms like Vinted and Vestiaire Collective are now where trends are stress-tested. If the "aspirational underboob" is trending in wishlists but stalling at checkout, it signals a cultural mood: we want to feel dangerous and exposed, but we are ultimately constrained by the pragmatism of daily life.
Midlife Knitwear: The Rebellion Against "Age-Appropriate"
While the fantasy self flirts with exposure, the reality of purchase behavior points toward a different kind of luxury: the "Midlife Knitwear" surge. This is not a capitulation to aging; it is a sophisticated rejection of fast fashion’s disposability.
Data extrapolated from the European market indicates a massive gravitation toward high-quality fibers—cashmere, mohair, and heavy wools—from brands like Jil Sander, The Row, COS, and Lemaire. This trend, particularly strong among women aged 40 to 55, counters the traditional retail narrative that pushes "slimming" or "modest" cuts on this demographic.
Instead, these consumers are hunting for texture and architectural volume. They are using resale platforms to bypass the high-street’s age-gating. When a consumer buys a pre-owned Raf Simons knit or a vintage Issey Miyake pleat, they are opting out of the trend cycle entirely.
This behavior creates a "Class Signaling Inversion." In the past, wearing the latest season was the ultimate status symbol. Today, scouring Vinted for an archive piece from a specific collection (perhaps Phoebe Philo’s era at Celine) signals a higher form of cultural capital. It implies knowledge, patience, and a refusal to be dictated to by current retail merchandising.
The Death of the "Sustainability" Myth
For years, the marketing rhetoric surrounding platforms like Depop, ThredUP, and Vinted has centered on ethics. The "circular economy" was the buzzword, designed to make consumers feel virtuous about buying used goods. However, the current data suggests a harsh truth: sustainability is now a secondary, perhaps even tertiary, motivation.
The primary driver is now psychology. The thrill of the "find," the dopamine hit of securing a luxury item at 80% off, and the ability to experiment with identity (the "underboob" phase, the "gorpcore" phase) without full financial commitment are the real engines of growth.
Gen Z consumers, who now make up a significant portion of the resale user base, view second-hand not as an "alternative" to retail, but as the default mode of consumption. They do not need the sustainability apology. This shift is critical for legacy brands to understand: if consumers are buying pre-owned Gucci or Prada, they aren't doing it to save the planet. They are doing it because the resale market offers a more diverse, chaotic, and exciting inventory than the homogenized floors of a flagship boutique.
Data Sovereignty: Why Vinted Knows More Than LVMH
The most disrupting element of this wishlist phenomenon is the data asymmetry it creates. Luxury conglomerates like LVMH and Kering spend millions on market research, focus groups, and trend forecasting. Yet, their view is limited to what they sell in their own stores.
Vinted, by contrast, sits on a goldmine of cross-brand, cross-category intent data. They know that a user who sells a Zara blazer often uses the credit to buy a vintage Burberry trench. They see the migration from Supreme streetwear to Arc'teryx technical gear in real-time.
The "wishlist gap"—the difference between what is liked and what is bought—is a metric that currently has no equivalent in traditional retail. If Vinted were to weaponize this data, they could predict micro-trends months before they appear on the runways of Paris or Milan. This "Intelligence Machine" potential helps explain the platform's staggering valuations and the quiet panic beginning to set in among traditional fashion retailers.
Timeline: The Evolution of Resale Identity
- 2015–2019: The Ethical Era. Platforms pitch themselves as the solution to fast fashion’s environmental crimes. The primary narrative is "saving the planet."
- 2020–2022: The Scarcity Era. Fueled by the pandemic and supply chain issues, resale becomes the place to find sold-out "grails" (Jordans, Telfar bags).
- 2023–2024: The Inflation Era. Economic pressure forces the middle class into resale for necessities, normalizing the behavior across all demographics.
- 2025–Present: The Psychological Era. The wishlist becomes a tool for identity curation. High-fashion aesthetics (Miu Miu, Khaite) are consumed as digital aspirations, while purchase habits shift toward "forever" quality (knitwear, leather).
The Luxury Response: Silence and Strategy
How are the titans of luxury responding to the fact that their products are being traded, wishlisted, and analyzed without their consent? For the most part, the strategy is silence. To acknowledge the resale market is to admit that a brand's pricing power is fluid.
However, we are seeing cracks in the wall. Kering’s investment in Vestiaire Collective and the launch of "Gucci Vault" suggest a "if you can't beat them, co-opt them" approach. But these are controlled environments. The chaotic, user-driven marketplace of Vinted remains outside their grasp.
The danger for luxury brands is the "commoditization of the logo." If a Balenciaga hoodie is traded like a stock commodity on resale apps, its value becomes detached from the brand’s storytelling and attached purely to market demand. The wishlist data exposes which brands are holding their allure (high wishlist, high price retention) and which are falling out of favor (high wishlist, low conversion).
Future Forecast: The Algorithmic stylist
Looking ahead to 2026, we anticipate a major pivot in how these platforms operate. The passive "search and save" model will likely evolve into active, AI-driven curation. Imagine a Vinted algorithm that doesn't just show you items similar to what you viewed, but analyzes the tension in your wishlist.
If the AI sees you saving aspirational party dresses but buying practical knitwear, it might suggest a "bridge" item—perhaps a silk slip dress that layers under a sweater—solving the psychological conflict between your fantasy self and your reality. This level of personalization, driven by the raw honesty of second-hand data, will outpace the capabilities of traditional personal shoppers.
Furthermore, as the "aspirational underboob" trend eventually fades—likely replaced by a return to structured tailoring or neo-romanticism—the resale market will detect the shift weeks before the glossies print their September issues. We are entering an era where the audience, through their collective digital hoarding, dictates the zeitgeist.
The Vinted wishlist is no longer just a shopping tool. It is a cultural document, a collection of unfulfilled promises and hidden desires that tells us more about the state of fashion than any runway show ever could.
Written by Ara Ohanian for FAZ Fashion — fashion intelligence for the modern reader.
