the new old thing; Vintage clothes can cost almost as much as new clothes (also ridiculously expensive) that look old-what's the best investment.

Once upon a time, bright young things ran around town in ratty thirties velvet opera cloaks with Paris labels, beaded cashmere twinsets from the Eisenhower era, and campy sixties frocks found at the Goodwill for $6. In those days, vintage aficionadas felt like they belonged to a secret society of scavengers who found fabulous bargains lurking on every flea-market table and rummage-sale rack.

But that was then. Prices for even the most prosaic vintage garments have skyrocketed, leaving the chic shopper facing a genuine dilemma: with the best old clothes often costing more than new clothes, and new clothes (which are also ridiculously expensive) painstakingly designed in many cases to look exactly like old clothes, how do you decide which is the better investment? Should a vintage-loving woman just throw in the Missoni towel and buy the new-old thing? Or should she stick to her retro guns and cost be damned?

Documentary filmmaker and longtime vintage-lover Liz Goldwyn, who helped found Sotheby's fashion department, admits she's frankly flabbergasted by the prices that pilly Puccis and grubby Guccis are fetching these days. "The biggest difference in the last few years is that there are just so many people looking for vintage resources now," she says, soundly stunned. "I mean, there are vintage sections in department stores!"

Not that Goldwyn is letting the burgeoning prices curtail her classic-clothes collecting-it's just that lately she's been setting her sights on what she calls "covetable eighties designers." She admits, "I'm back on eBay. I just bought a pair of red suede Norma Kamali platform sandals for $10."

Prices for hot-label items, be they old or new, may be completely hideous, but Goldwyn thinks that you still can't go wrong with solid vintage investments: Judith Leiber minaudieres just a few decades old; sixties Roberta di Camerino velvet satchels; and, of course, anything marked Hermes.

Actually, when it comes to Hermes, mad desire has been known to vanquish price resistance, whether the item is gently worn or factory fresh. Goldwyn believes that buying a Birkin with your own money is the sign of a successful woman; she says she would gladly settle for old or new; she craves denim trimmed with white leather. "And I wouldn't care how beat-up it was."

And though Goldwyn hasn't experienced that old urban myth-the dusty Kelly rotting away in a Goodwill-she does own a beloved circa-1940 custom-made Hermes shoe valise.