by The red carpet has been rolled out. The statues are polished gold. And the dresses? Well, for many celebrities attending this year’s Oscar ceremony the race is still on to find the perfect one.
Commercial relationships often dictate who wears what (as a long-term ambassador for Louis Vuitton, best actress nominee Emma Stone will no doubt be wearing the French brand) but there are plenty of A-listers looking more at fashion archives. Dunne’s recent Zendaya tour wardrobe, for example, included vintages from 1999 Alexander McQueen to 2011 Roberto Cavalli.
Now vintage hunters – a growing coterie of fashion experts who obsessively track down and sell rare designer pieces – are reporting a surge in demand for their services as celebrities and their stylists look to the past. thrown in the hope of creating a future viral look at Sunday’s ceremony. .
“We’re still getting a lot of requests for furnishings,” says Alexis Novak, founder of LA store Tab Vintage. “We’re even doing them on Saturday, it’s really all the way up to the last minute.”
Novak works closely with the biggest stylists in Hollywood including Danielle Goldberg, who dresses some of the most beautiful women in movies such as Ayo Edebiri from The Bear and Greta Lee from The Morning Show. Novak describes the process as “collaborative”. Sometimes a stylist will give her a list of specific items they’d like to find, other times Novak will suggest pieces she’s uncovered that she thinks might appeal to a certain A-lister’s aesthetic.
For this year’s Oscar ceremony, Novak says she’s seeing a demand for “really impressive pieces.” Like the crowd wife aesthetic, Novak has noticed a growing interest in dresses with old Hollywood glamor – floor-length gowns with intricate beading from Donatella Versace’s early collections are on the rise. She is expecting a glittering and tasseled black haute couture 2003 dress from the Italian powerhouse and a sheer gold Valentino 2001 dress with the delicate crystal detailing of the final cut. “We’re leaving behind that quiet luxurious 90s lie,” she says.
Johnny Valencia, owner of Pechuga Vintage in LA, and Christelle McCracken, of My Runway Archive in London, cite a renewed interest in dramatic pieces from John Galliano’s early Christian Dior collections, partly inspired by Kevin MacDonald’s stirring documentary that just aired applied to screens. . Valencia also had a number of requests for Mugler and Vivienne Westwood in the 90s, and old-school accessories including elbow-length gloves and feather boas are also in favour.
The Oscars may be named the biggest night in film but its influence is equally felt in the world of fashion. Last year’s televised ceremony drew more than 18 million viewers on ABC alone. Add to the mix live streaming of the red carpet from entertainment platforms such as E! News and social media, where individual appearances are spotlighted, scrutinized and regularly meme-ed, have the potential to take a celebrity’s career to new heights.
Not only can an archival look make it last (see Zendaya in a robot suit from Thierry Mugler’s 1995 collection), it also ticks the sustainability box, allowing celebrities to align their values with many of their fans more youth who support second-hand shopping.
With its growing demand, the world of sourcing has become uber competitive. While sales from specialist auction houses such as Julien’s used to attract a handful of niche online buyers, Novak says hundreds are now battling it out.
On second-hand platforms such as eBay, Novak and McCracken have experienced situations where their purchases have been cancelled, sometimes seconds after being confirmed, due to another bidder contacting the seller directly with a bid above their winning bid. .
In LA, vintage hunters often don plastic gloves to rummage late into the night through estate sales – a common practice in America where one’s entire possessions are liquidated. Valencia flew from LA to London to personally collect an Issey Miyake corset from 1981 that he paid £40,000 for, and to the south of France to pick up a Jean Paul Gaultier singlet.
McCracken was recently approached by a private collector who had 20 vintage Dior pieces, including John Galliano’s famous “newspaper dress”. She bought the tree and expects the dress alone to fetch more than £45,000.
Novak often finds cheaper, unexpected pieces that have been “disclaimed or ripped from the back of someone’s closet”. Todd Oldham’s beaded dress had been put through a washing machine, causing thousands of beads to peel off, and Novak sewed them back on. She restored a Thierry Mugler dress from the 80s that she found in “bad shape” by gently hand-washing it several times and re-threading the bodice. Kourtney Kardashian chose to wear it for her first Oscars 2022.
After experiencing situations where the dresses have become damaged and torn, most vintage hunters now charge for loans or implement a buy-to-wear policy. “These pieces are irreplaceable,” says Novak. “With all the time, money and research I put into finding them, I feel it’s my responsibility to take care of them.”
