13 Brands Like Because Of Alice for Polished Everyday Style
Two things send you looking past Because Of Alice. The first is a sold-out size on the dress you'd already styled in your head. The second is everything the brand doesn't set out to sell you, because a label built around occasionwear and wedding-guest tailoring isn't where you go for the winter coat you keep for a decade.
The 13 brands below fix both problems. Some undercut BOA on price, some sit well above it, and a few sell the quiet weekday half of a wardrobe that occasion-led brands tend to skip.
| Brand | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Aritzia | Mid-range | Filling a whole wardrobe in one order |
| Everlane | Mid-range | Knowing what the factory was paid |
| COS | Mid-range | Shapes with some architecture to them |
| Sezane | Mid-range | French softness instead of sharp lines |
| Vince | £270 to £1,495 on new arrivals | Cashmere and satin you keep for years |
| The Row | Luxury | One coat, bought once |
| Mango | High street | Testing a silhouette before you commit |
| Joseph | £175 to £1,275 | Trousers and tailoring for work |
| Reformation | £168 to £548 on the pieces shown | Dresses that rival BOA's occasion range |
| Arket | Mid-range | The plain weekday half of the wardrobe |
| Cuyana | $78 to $598 on clothing | Silk and linen with the fibre named |
| Maggie Marilyn | NZ$95 to NZ$995 | Shopping the southern hemisphere |
| Filippa K | £70 to £335 on womenswear | Swedish cuts, plus a resale route in |
Aritzia
Aritzia is a Canadian retailer that designs its own labels rather than stocking other people's, so one order can cover the blazer, the slip skirt and the knit that goes over both. Babaton carries the tailoring, Wilfred the softer pieces, and TNA the weekend end of things.
That in-house structure is the practical difference from Because Of Alice, which edits down to a single point of view. Aritzia gives you several, sitting side by side in the same basket. Prices land in the mid-range bracket, and past-season colours get marked down often enough that waiting on a shape you've already sized tends to pay off.
The site blocks automated readers, so we can't quote a live price here. Check the product page before you plan a basket around a number you saw somewhere else.
Best for: filling several wardrobe gaps in one order
Everlane
Everlane publishes what its clothes cost to make and then sells them without the usual retail markup. Its own example on the about page puts an Everlane T-shirt at $30 against $55 through a traditional retailer, and the brand summarises itself as "Exceptional quality. Ethical factories. Radical Transparency."
What that buys you is a plain wardrobe with the sourcing spelled out. Everlane names Grade-A cashmere sweaters, Italian shoes and Peruvian Pima tees among its materials, and says it audits factories on wages, hours and environment against a target score of 90 or above.
Set against Because Of Alice, this is the unglamorous half of getting dressed. Nothing here competes with an occasion dress. It's the crew neck and the trouser you wear the other five days, and we've mapped the closest rivals in our guide to brands like Everlane.
Best for: basics where the cost breakdown is public
COS
COS treats minimalism as a design problem rather than a default setting. A COS coat usually has something going on that a plain coat doesn't: a dropped shoulder, a volume that reads sculptural from the side, a collar cut wider than it needs to be.
That makes it the pick if straightforward basics bore you. Where Because Of Alice leans on print and occasion detail to carry a piece, COS gets the same effect out of shape alone, which is a different way of being interesting in a room.
Prices sit in the mid-range bracket. The site refuses automated readers, so treat any figure quoted elsewhere as out of date until you've opened the product page yourself. We've compared it with its Swedish sibling in our roundup of brands like COS and Arket.
Best for: shapes with architecture, not just clean lines
Sezane
Sezane is the French label to reach for when you want softness where Because Of Alice gives you structure. Think silk blouses with gathering at the shoulder, cardigans cropped to sit at the waistband, and trousers cut in warm neutrals instead of black.
Collections drop on a schedule and sell through fast, which is why regulars diary the launches rather than browsing when the mood strikes. If you've ever missed a BOA size, you already know that feeling.
The brand sits in the mid-range bracket and blocks automated readers, so we're not quoting a price we can't stand behind. Our comparison of brands like Sezane covers where it beats and loses to its nearest rivals.
Best for: Parisian softness rather than sharp tailoring
Vince
Vince sells the fabric first. Its current women's new arrivals run from a Draped-Neck Long-Sleeve Top (£270) up to a Suede-Trimmed Leather Cropped Jacket (£1,495), with a Plush Cashmere Funnel-Neck Sweater (£425) and a Matte Satin Slip Skirt (£370) in between.
You notice the difference at the hanger. Cashmere at that weight and satin with that much drop to it behave differently on the body than the same shapes cut in a lighter cloth, and the palette stays anchored in stone, cream and black so pieces keep working together across seasons.
Against Because Of Alice this is the step up in material rather than in occasion. A BOA dress makes an evening. A Vince cardigan makes 200 ordinary mornings, and the cost per wear reflects that.
Best for: cashmere and satin bought once and kept
The Row
The Row was established in 2005 by Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen, and the brand describes its own work as "exceptional fabrics, impeccable details, and precise tailoring". Nothing carries a logo. Recognition comes from the cut of a shoulder or the fall of a trouser, if it comes at all.
This is the top of the list by some distance and it's a luxury price. Buy here when you already own a working wardrobe and want to replace one piece in it with something you won't rethink for a decade.
The rest of this list is where you build. The Row is where you finish, and there's no shame in bookmarking it for later while you shop the middle of the table instead.
Best for: a single coat or trouser bought once
Mango
Mango is the cheapest way onto this list. The Spanish retailer turns out blazers, wide-leg trousers and midi dresses at high-street prices, with new drops landing weekly rather than seasonally.
Use it as a testing ground. If you've been eyeing a barrel-leg trouser or a colour you've not worn before, Mango lets you find out whether you'll wear it twice before you spend Vince money on the same idea. Plenty of shoppers keep it as the low-risk half of a wardrobe anchored by pricier pieces.
The site blocks automated readers, so we've left specific figures out. Our roundup of brands like Mango lines it up against the rest of the European high street.
Best for: trying a silhouette before you commit to it
Joseph
Joseph is where this list gets serious about trousers. The British label describes itself as selling luxury essentials built on quality and flawless fit, and the current range bears that out: Rihani Crepe de Soie Silk Trousers (£495), a Nereus Light Viscose Knit Dress (£675), a Rieu Tortoiseshell Crepe Blouse (£395).
Accessories run alongside the clothing, from a Bean Link Resin Necklace (£225) up to a Mini Bucket Snake Leather Bag (£745), so a whole outfit can come from one place.
Because Of Alice dresses you for the evening. Joseph dresses you for the Tuesday meeting where the trouser has to hold its line from 8am to 7pm, and the fabric weight is doing most of that work.
Best for: workwear trousers and tailoring that hold their shape
Reformation
Reformation is the closest competitor to Because Of Alice on this list, because both sell dresses you buy for something. Current pieces include the Opaline Silk Dress (£248), the Roma Linen Dress (£278) and the Sandy Short (£168), with the Elena Tote Bag (£548) at the top of the accessories.
The sustainability side is stated rather than implied. Reformation publishes an annual sustainability report and runs RefScale, its own system for putting numbers against a product's footprint, alongside a Vintage section for secondhand pieces.
If your BOA basket is mostly wedding-guest and party, this is the first place to look for the same job done in linen and silk with the reporting attached.
Best for: occasion dresses with published footprint numbers
Arket
Arket handles the plain weekday half of a wardrobe. Cotton tees, merino crewnecks, outerwear cut for rain instead of for photographs, and denim that softens across a year of wearing it.
It leans more utilitarian than Because Of Alice, which is the point. Few wardrobes are all occasion, and the pieces you reach for at 7am rarely have a print on them. Arket sits in the mid-range bracket, and like its Scandinavian siblings the site blocks automated readers, so we've kept specific prices out.
Pair it with one of the pricier names above and you've got a working week covered from either end. Our guide to brands like COS and Arket goes deeper on where the two overlap.
Best for: the unglamorous weekday half of a wardrobe
Cuyana
Cuyana names the fibre on every product, which makes it the easiest brand here to shop on material alone. The Silk Cowl Cami ($148) and Silk Mock Neck Top ($298) are 3-ply silk, the Linen Pleated Pants ($328) are a linen lyocell stretch, and the One Shoulder Top ($78) is an organic cotton modal blend.
The brand's stated philosophy is a "fewer, better lifestyle", and it backs that with Revive, a resale platform for preloved Cuyana pieces. Accessories start lower, from an Alpaca Keychain ($58) up to a Silk Classic Trench ($598) at the top of the clothing.
Where Because Of Alice sells you a look, Cuyana sells you a fabric spec and lets you build from it.
Best for: buying by fibre, with a resale route back out
Maggie Marilyn
Maggie Marilyn prices in New Zealand dollars and ships free across Australia and New Zealand, which makes it the southern-hemisphere pick on this list. The catalogue runs to 136 products, from the 01 Singlet (NZ$95) through the Cashmere Twin Set (NZ$695) to the When It All Feels Impossible Jacket (NZ$995).
The brand describes what it sells as "practical femininity for the modern woman", aimed at a customer who cares about longevity, and points to The Standard as its statement of ethical practice.
Sizes sell out at the colourway level here, so a few pieces show as sold out at any given time. If the exact shade matters to you, buy it when you see it instead of waiting for a sale.
Best for: shopping in NZD with free AU and NZ delivery
Filippa K
Filippa K is the Swedish label on this list, and its womenswear spans a Fine Rib Tank (£70) up to a Sasha Cool Wool Blazer (£335), with the Darcey Cool Wool Trouser (£245) and Merino Short Cardigan (£155) in the middle of that range.
Cool wool is the thread running through the range, and it's the reason a Filippa K blazer travels better than a heavier one. The brand also runs a resale channel, so a piece you've finished with has somewhere to go and a piece you couldn't afford new has a second price.
Sales here go deep. Reductions of up to 70% were running on the site at the time of writing, which is worth knowing before you pay full price for a seasonal colour.
Best for: Swedish cuts, with resale as a cheaper way in
Where to Start If You Only Buy One Thing
Pick by the gap, not by the brand. If what you're missing is another occasion dress, Reformation does that job closest to Because Of Alice and publishes its footprint numbers while doing it. If the gap is the weekday half of your wardrobe, start with Arket or Everlane and spend nothing on anything with a print.
Budget sorts the rest. Mango is where you find out whether a shape suits you, and The Row is where you stop looking. Most wardrobes want more of the former than the latter, whatever the algorithm has been showing you.
For more comparisons like this one, our full article library has the rest.
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Written by
Spencer Lanoue
