Lady Apsley, who was recently appointed vice president of the British Legion, started a small designer clothes online business in 2005. Her friends joined the group and bought and sold designer jackets, suits and clutch bags online among themselves.

She said: "I had tried to sell some of my clothes on an internet auction site. They were going for about five pence and it all felt very grubby. People were openly offering fakes. They would ask me, 'Are these genuine' which I found very insulting."

Within eight months, more than 10,000 members had joined the online Clothes Agency. Lady Apsley converted a barn on Tetbury Road, Cirencester, into a designer warehouse shop. There are some high street brands among the pieces - LK Bennett and Kate Moss for Topshop - but the majority are "gently-used" designer wear.

On the rails are almond-coloured Amanda Wakeley skirt suits, cotton shirts with bold Pucci prints, and Dolce & Gabbana gothic lace gowns. There are also Manolo Blahnik stilettos, Alberta Ferretti sandals, and acid-bright cerise skinny jeans by Versace.

A vintage Bellville Sassoon red polka-dot skirt suit is priced at £98. Black Escada sling backs with crimson bows and red trim cost £94, and a cerise and wine-coloured party dress by Dolce & Gabbana is priced at £695 - still more than £1,500 lower than the original price tag.

The shop is decorated with a black umbrella, an old-fashioned camera, mannequins and black-and-white-striped hat boxes. Half of the stock has been slashed in price for the closing down sale and some clothes and proceeds will be donated to charities supported by Lady Apsley.

Staff at the agency decide whether clothes are to be sold in the shop. Lady Apsley added: "The pieces are often special to the customer. They can be particularly sensitive but at the same time, you yourself have to be realistic. One woman tried to get me to sell a camel coat that was so stiff and really had seen better days. I politely tried to refuse but she kept saying 'Can you really not sell it?'"

But Lady Apsley admitted she knew very little about fashion before she set up the agency four years ago. In her 20s, Lady Apsley wore twin-sets, smart-casual jeans and shirts. She added: "For a while, I wore stupidly high heels. I fell over and I'm sure I wrecked my ankles. Now I only wear heels lower than two inches. "I can't take those eight-inch utterly ridiculous heels. I'm sure that bone surgeons are very busy now that they are back in fashion. I just believe in wearing what suits you."

Now, Lady Apsley still wears a similar range of cashmere, jeans and casual clothes - but she reads Vogue and admits she recognised a friend's suit as a Christian Lacroix piece from a distance. "I was quite embarrassed," she admitted. She added: "I am one of my own best customers. I can't remember the last time I bought something absolutely brand new. "The other day, I found myself clothed top-to-toe in things from the agency - a Gucci shirt, a Daks suit."

(c) 2008 Western Daily Press (Bristol UK). Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.