Women's Clothing
Buy and sell women’s clothing in Costa Rica.
A good share of the jeans worn in Costa Rica are cut in Colombia, built to lift and labelled in even numbers from 6 to 14, so the number on a tag can mean something different from one pair to the next. Around them sit enaguas, as a skirt is called here, swimsuits bought for a week in Tamarindo, and maternity clothes worn for a few months and then outgrown, new with tags or pre-owned. Ask for the waist and hip in centimetres before you agree where to meet.
What a Tico calls an enagua:
a skirt, and on a Costa Rican listing you will meet the word as often as falda. The local names run through the whole wardrobe: a T-shirt is a chema, shorts are chores, and a blusa is the woven or draped top worn to the office. Skirts split on length and cut, from a fitted pencil enagua for work to a long, loose cotton one for a hot afternoon, and they are bought on the waist: a hip that is a little snug can pass, a waistband that will not close cannot. Browse them in skirts. Blusas and chemas are in tops, and everything from a cotton sundress to a gala gown is in dresses.
Colombian push-up jeans and their even-numbered sizes:
the levantacola cut uses a shaped back seam and yoke and a good deal of stretch in the denim, which is what lets it hold and lift. Colombian labels run 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14, a scale that lines up neither with the US numbers on a pair of Levi’s nor with S, M and L, so the only safe comparison is a tape measure across the waist and hips. Rigid denim with little or no elastane is the opposite choice: it gives less on the first day and keeps its shape for years. New, a Colombian push-up pair costs around ₡20,000 to ₡25,000. A used one is worth whatever its stretch has left. A pair worn a handful of times sells close to new, while one that has gone baggy at the seat sells for very little, because the lift it was bought for has gone. Fits and rises are compared in jeans.
Maternity wear and the months it is actually worn:
most pieces see four or five months of use, and that short life is why maternity clothes are among the better things to buy pre-owned. The main choice is the belly panel. A full panel comes up over the bump and suits the last months; an under-bump band sits low, feels lighter early on and suits anyone who dislikes fabric across the belly. Wrap dresses and stretch tops ruched at the sides often carry on into the months after the birth. In maternity wear, buy for the months ahead rather than for the size you are now.
Swimsuit elastic after salt, chlorine and sunscreen:
all three break down the elastane in a swimsuit, so a used one ages faster than it looks in a photo. Look along the leg openings and straps: elastic that has gone wavy, crackles when pulled or shows white threads through the fabric is finished. Check that the lining is whole, and on a new suit that the hygienic liner is still in place. Cuts and fabrics are covered in swimwear. On jeans, look at the inner thighs, where denim thins and splits first, and at the knees and seat for bagging. On maternity trousers the panel tells the story: one that has lost its spring will slide down by midday.
A closet clear-out, measured flat and labelled honestly:
lay each piece flat and give the waist, hip and length in centimetres, and say which size system the label uses, Colombian, US or European, because a buyer cannot tell from the photo. Shoot in daylight, front and back, with a close-up of the fabric label. Pieces in one size listed together, a bag of maternity clothes or the jeans and chemas from a closet that no longer fits, save the buyer more than one trip. Say plainly whether a swimsuit has been worn in the sea or a pool. Someone coming in from Turrialba to collect a bundle will want to hold the jeans up against herself and see the seat and inner thighs in good light, so choose a meeting place where she can.