Indie fashion feature: Blackmilk

Nerd chic comes at a steep price

By Brittney MacDonald, Life & Style Editor

Blackmilk is a name that has become synonymous with indie fashion success. I mean, it’s pretty hard to be a frequent peruser of the World Wide Web, and not have seen at least one of their products. Based in Australia and best known for their detailed graphic print leggings, Blackmilk has risen to success on the idea that building up your social media presence and providing a wide variety of products is essential to finding success with today’s young adult demographic. But what are you really buying when you make a Blackmilk purchase—a quality product, or a name?

I will admit, I have been taken in by Blackmilk designs more than once. I mean, come on! They have multiple collections devoted to Star Wars and Mass Effect! But all that fan-love comes at a pretty steep cost. Their leggings will run you about $80 USD, which is bad enough but becomes even worse when you factor in that any shipping to Canada is international. I can also inform you that, due to the fact they are so expensive, you will be charged an additional $50–60 CAD per package or item because of duty taxes. Normally, duty taxes don’t apply because companies will enclose their receipts in the package to avoid theft. Blackmilk doesn’t do this, so it remains the only company that I regularly have to pay extra to get my items shipped from.

Pro tip: if you are making a Blackmilk order, do so in bulk or combine your order with a few friends so that you can split not only the shipping cost but the cost of the duty taxes, which makes it all a little more bearable.

Quality-wise, my Blackmilk leggings are some of my best. They are extremely durable and made of thick spandex. I really like them, but they are kind of a pain in the ass to care for because you have to wash them by hand and air-dry them. That said, the quality of the print work is amazing even when the leggings are stretched. The dresses on the other hand fit really strangely. It’s almost as if Blackmilk assumes everyone is either incredibly well-endowed or has had a boob job, because the bust size is often ridiculously out of proportion to the size of the rest of the dress. So if you’re petite-chested, go about 1–2 sizes smaller than you normally would. I’m 5’8” and vary between a B and C cup, and the medium I ordered was so big I had to give it away.

If you want my advice, save Blackmilk for when you really want to treat yourself, or when they come out with a collection from your favourite fandom. Don’t shop there for their normal clothes, because believe me, you can find them way cheaper at American Apparel or Romwe. Blackmilk clothing is available at their website www.blackmilk.com