How to Thrift the Bode Look
Get the look of Bode by shopping secondhand
There is perhaps no modern fashion house that is as inspired by vintage as Bode. Everything they do is rooted in the past, and you’ll note so many vintage techniques (and often, vintage textiles) in their work: quilting and patchwork and appliqué among them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I first became acquainted with Bode while — what else? — vintage shopping.
It was 2019 when I first visited the Tucson, Arizona shop Desert Vintage. Desert Vintage is one of the best shops in the country for archival designer fashion, and the duo behind the shop has an impeccable buy — think vintage Donna Karan for Anne Klein sweaters, Margiela for Hermes coats, etc. Design teams from The Row and Bode are also known to visit the shop to inform their own designs, and Desert Vintage and Bode have something of a reciprocal relationship, with the founders of the shop and designers of the brand often touting their love for one another in interviews. As I followed Desert Vintage on social media, I began to see more and more about the then still under-the-radar label, Bode.
Bode was founded by Emily Adams Bode Aujl in 2016, when she created one-of-a-kind garments from antique and deadstocks fabrics. She focused on menswear first (remarkable and groundbreaking for a woman, by the way — Emily was the first female designer to show at the dedicated New York Fashion Week menswear shows).
In 2023, Bode launched womenswear and a write-up from Vogue announcing the news sums up the ethos and history of the label quite well:
All of which led to that day in 2016 when Emily made her very first fit sample for Bode, refashioning a favorite vintage quilt top into high-waisted trousers, thereby kicking off what has become her game-changing trademark: clothing that is ostensibly for men, though practically for any body at all. In our hypercharged culture, Bode’s pieces stand out for their quiet politics, for taking their energy from the thrill of thrift shopping—and, in an overwhelmingly virtual world, for the charge of the handmade.
In 2025, Bode has made it decidedly to the mainstream. It’s a favorite among athletes (no surprise that they hosted a runway show with GQ during the recent Super Bowl in New Orleans) and actors; it just opened a buzzy new shop in Paris; and it recently launched a collaboration with Nike.
Bode designs are gorgeous and innovative and they tell a story: one of reuse and transformation and one that honors time-honed techniques and textiles. It’s also a homegrown American brand — one founded by a woman — which can be rare in high-end fashion.
But Bode is about more than just fashion, due to frequent collaborations with Emily’s partner, Aaron Aujla, who cofounded the furniture and interior design practice Green River Project in 2017. Bode and Green River are distinct and separate entities but both are heavily rooted in vintage and reference one another frequently (all of Bode’s stores are designed by Green River, and the couple’s Manhattan home is a Green River design).
Keep reading for my full list of the (somewhat surprising) keywords to search for to get the Bode and Green River look — along with a roundup of the most Bode-like vintage pieces available to shop right now. Plus, some of the items I have personally thrifted or purchased at estate sales over the years that look incredibly on trend for the brand.