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You know that fusty Fifties jacket you found in the Marylebone branch of Oxfam? If someone asks you where it's from, do not, under any circumstances, say it's "vintage". The correct terminology is "second-hand". Or so quoth London's style elite, who seem to have disappeared so far up their own bottoms that it's a wonder they can quoth anything at all.

The style elite is a bit peed off, you see. Vintage used to be their thing: they derived much more kudos from sourcing a Fifties Pucci dress than from buying a new one off the peg. Then the rest of us got in on the act. Topshop spawned a vintage section, Steinberg and Tolkien took a concession in Selfridges and suddenly, every Lucy worth her Lanvin was jumping on the vintage bandwagon. And so stylists started to refer to their finds as second-hand, instead. Secondhand sounds less pretentious, as though they stumbled upon their dress in the local branch of Mencap, rather than sourcing it meticulously from Rellik (even though they did).

My own rule of thumb is that I'll call something vintage if it hailed from an era before I was born. If I'm wearing last season's Marni, I'll say so: to say it's vintage is ridiculous. Although if I'm in the mood for showing off, I'll say the item was my mum's, because that's the coolest answer you can give. It implies that your taste is as genetic as your cheekbones, and that your mother has an attic full of goodies that would make Virginia Bates's boutique look crap.

Whatever you want to call them, second-hand clothes are a great antidote to all the mass-produced garments flooding the high street these days. Now that we've all got the Topshop chiffon dress in every colour, the question is how to make it ours. Dressing it up with a second-hand scarf or jacket is a failsafe way to look different.

Vintage and second-hand shopping are two very different things. London is awash with excellent vintage stores, but their treasures are usually as expensive as they are gorgeous. If spending £400 on an Ossie Clark dress is beyond the pale, then stick to second-hand stores, which are considerably cheaper. Markets such as Camden and Portobello will also throw up good value seconds.

For bargains, though, nothing beats a charity shop. Unfortunately, London's charity shops tend to have been plundered already by all those vintage and second-hand store-owners eager to mark up their finds for profit.

Travel to the last stop on your Tube line for a better selection, or do a mammoth charity-shop trawl when you visit your parents (if they live out of London). Rich areas also give rich pickings: one Chelsea lady's cast-off is another girl's disco frock. It looks like being a vintage - sorry, second-hand - summer.