Sezane dupes: Sometimes you just don’t want to spend $980 on a coat, you know? (Unless you do! Like this one! But often you don’t!)
Full disclosure: I don’t usually shop dupes, for a few reasons: Sometimes you just want the thing, and there’s no substitute for it, and your heart will remain unsettled until you have it: If I want a Gaspard, and buy a dupe, I will buy four unsatisfying dupes before I finally give up and buy a Gaspard. In that case, I’d rather save up. I also don’t love supporting business models (hey there #quince) that are built around copying others’ work.
That said: There is virtue in buying secondhand, and sometimes the budget requires it. There are two ways to approach shopping for Sezane dupes: By looking for actual dupes (pieces that are directly inspired by Sézane’s best-sellers at a lower price) and by investigating brands with a similar aesthetic.
TOP SEZANE PICKS (UPDATED WEEKLY)
Sezane Dupes #1: Specific Products
Quince has made a cottage industry out of duping other brands’ bestsellers, which is bad. Quality can be an issue as well. That said: They have a number of Sézane dupes. Sézane’s famous Will jacket is really just an update on the even more famous French chore coat — there are plenty of variations out there. And the Gaspard has imitators worldwide — these are a few of the best.
Sezane Dupes #2: Resellers
The Sézane reseller market is alive and well — so if you’re looking for Sézane at a lower price and don’t mind getting it secondhand, start here. I did a search for all the reseller’s Sézane items and then for a popular item — in this case, the Will jacket.
- Poshmark (currently 1500+ items, including 56(!) Will jackets)
- Depop (currently 1501 items, including 2 Will jackets)
- eBay (currently 5300+ items, including 5 Will jackets)
- TheRealReal (currently 1300+ items, including 10 Will jackets)
- ThredUp (currently 30 items, including zero Will jackets)
Some notes: Depop had the best prices. Searching on TheRealReal was miserable, since it doesn’t list items by the brand’s product names — for example, instead of “Will jacket,” you have to search by category (i.e. Sézane jackets) and then comb through the listings — the Wills were listed as either “utility jacket” or “denim jacket.” I honestly don’t know whether eBay or Poshmark had the best selection — Poshmark doesn’t provide a listings count, so I’m only sure it has more than 1500 items — it could have 15,000. eBay had a huge number (5300+) but the selection of newer pieces looked better to me on Poshmark.
Assume everything you see on these sites is fake until proven otherwise.
Winner: Poshmark
Sezane Dupes #2: Google
Let’s try just googling “Sezane dupes”
Searching for Will jacket dupes returned this:
As it turns out, I don’t really love any of these, but that Consciously jacket is interesting, if not at all substantially cheaper than the original.
And here’s the result page for dupes of the Gaspard, Sézane’s very famous mohair cardigan:
Better! And now we have what we need to know: The Cider version is only $28, but you can see where they saved the money in the product description: While the Gaspard is super kid mohair, baby alpaca, and polyamide (nylon), Cider’s is mostly acrylic, with polyester, nylon, wool (six percent) and Spandex. Maybe we care, maybe we don’t. At least we have options.
Sezane Dupes #3: Google Image Search
I use Google image search all the time for clothes, not least if I spot someone’s bag or sweater or coat I like on the street — it’s so handy. Here, I image searched this picture of the Gaspard:
While the top results were, indeed, links to the Gaspard, when you keep going you get some better ideas:
It’s a really easy way to search multiple resellers at once (in addition to Depop, as seen here, it also returned results for Poshmark) — plus there’s a bunch of ideas here for slightly different products from similar brands (including Balzac, which we’ll get to in a second). It also makes you consider how for Sézane’s more basic pieces (like, say, a black cardigan with mother-of-pearl buttons), so much of their appeal is in the styling.
Sezane Dupes #4: Dupe.com
All you need to do here is drop the product item’s URL into dupe.com, and it’ll spit out some similar items. TBH, I find the results very similar, if not slightly less interesting, than what you can find on Google’s image search, and Dupe works really hard to get you to install their extension. Also, their top result was totally dumb (a $560 Gustav Klimt repro on Wayfair?? No thank you.) Also most of their results were actually more expensive than Sézane, like a $478 Rag & Bone cardigan at Nordstrom. Not great.
Sezane Dupes #5: Similar Brands
Lots of brands intersect with Sézane’s aesthetic, both French ones and non. Here are some places to try:
Sezane Dupe Brand #1: Rouje
Provenance: French
Vibe: Sézane + Sunday afternoons under the Provencal sun (read: more espadrilles) + more money outta the checking account
Note: Founded by noted style person Jeanne Damas (also author, including of In Paris: 20 Women on Life in the City of Light and La Vie en Rouje)
Assessment: It all looks very cool, but quality can be iffy on some pieces — in the dresses, for example, keep an eye on the viscose
Shipping: Via UPS from France, free for orders over $300 (otherwise: $24)
Sample Sézane-y piece: The Debby is the girlier (and considerably pricier) version of Sézane’s square-neck Samuel tank top (which I love so much I am currently searching for it on Depop and is usually, secondhand, around $70.)
Sezane Dupe #2: & Other Stories
Provenance: Swedish? It’s owned by the H&M Group
Vibe: Sézane – Amélie
Note: I love & Other Stories — also it stocks a tremendous number of items, so just come back in 48 hours if you don’t see anything you like
Shipping: Economy shipping is free, with deliveries in 3-8 days
Sample Sézane-y piece: Voluminous belted wool coat, $349
Sezane Dupe #3: Libertie
Provenance: France
Vibe: Sézane + 15 years
Note: It can skew a little mumsy if you’re not careful
Shipping: €20
Sample Sézane-y piece: Nuria shirt, €49
Sezane Dupe #4: Easy Clothes
Provenance: Belgium
Vibe: Sézane + Kohl’s
Note: There’s some really good stuff there, but some not-so-good stuff, too, and you might miss Sézane’s aesthetic cohesiveness
Shipping: Free (2-5 days)
Sample Sézane-y piece: Corinna cami — of everything I looked at while writing this post, this piece was the one I was most tempted to buy ($27)
Sezane Dupe #5: Madewell
Provenance: USA
Vibe: Sézane + endless T-shirts with French sayings (resist these)
Note: They do have some good, very Sézane-like pieces, including the wide-legged pants and jeans, boxy sweaters, and sleek accessories
Shipping: Economy shipping is free for Madewell Insiders, $5 for everybody else
Sample Sézane-y piece: This sweater is their Gaspard
Sezane Dupe #6: Balzac Paris
Provenance: France
Vibe: Sézane cranked up to 15 (see all these ruffles)
Note: Their Seconde Vie edition has good deals but only delivers to France
Shipping: Free over $200, otherwise $12 via DHL Global Express-E
Sample Sézane-y piece: These golden shoes
Sezane Dupe #7: Anthropologie
Provenance: The American mall
Vibe: Been selling the French aesthetic for as long as memory goes back
Note: Some of the labels they carry go more in a French direction than others
Shipping: Free standard shipping over $50, otherwise from $6.95 – $15.95
Sample Sézane-y piece: The Violette sweater feels very Sézane holiday collection to me, while the Colettes share a lot of wide-leg trouser DNA, too.
Sezane Dupe #8: Quince
Provenance: U.S.
Vibe: Sézane with even iffier quality
Note: Looks great, but quibbles about how the knitwear wears persist
Shipping: Free
Sample Sézane-y piece: Here’s their Cashmere Cardigan Sweater
