“Vintage has become a luxury status symbol in itself”: The rise of “archive fashion”

“Vintage has become a luxury status symbol in itself,” he said. Vestiaire Collectiveis a global marketplace for pre-owned designer fashion. “It’s not just about new anymore. Sometimes it’s about old and hard-to-find items,” Virk says, adding that shoppers are now scouring Vestiaire’s site for “archive Gucci,” along with Prada, Miu Miu, and Saint Laurent. (“Archival” is an informal fashion term that basically means “something that’s more than 10 years old and famous enough to remember from a red carpet or an ad campaign.”) “Trophy vintage” is another moniker used to describe these iconic, sought-after items. Emily Ratajkowski Among the notables who preferred the second-hand route.

Vestiaire doesn’t just sell vintage items; it also offers an extensive database of designer clothes, shoes, and accessories, some of which are just a few seasons old. A quick scroll through the site’s new arrivals reveals a pristine Khaite bodysuit with the tags still attached, worn-in Dior heels, and a Loewe bag that looks like it was taken straight from the showroom. Buying these second-hand items will often save you around 50% to 70% off the retail price, while also reducing your impact on the planet.

“Buying second-hand clothes extends the life of the garment. Average 2.2 years“New clothes don’t need to be produced as quickly and old clothes stay in the waste cycle for longer,” Burke told the BBC. “But of course, shipping clothes around the world takes energy,” she said, “although not as much as producing a new pair of shoes.”

In Virk’s view, Vestiaire is a better option in a broken consumer system. It’s also a dopamine button for shoppers who enjoy searching. “You scroll through and suddenly you find the dress you’ve dreamed of or you’ve seen a celebrity wear,” Virk says. “But it’s cheaper, so you can have it. It’s a bit like a designer-brand collaboration. Vestiaire is making that access a little more real.”

Facing reality

Before you get too excited, let’s be real: Vestiaire’s designer pieces may be cheaper than retail, but they’re still not cheap. A pair of Miu Miu sunglasses will set you back about $330 (£252), while a Vivienne Westwood velvet corset top will set you back about $630 (£481). Shoppers will also need patience to find a bargain. The downside to Vestiaire’s vast archive is that it can mean a lot of scrolling (and scrolling and scrolling…) to narrow down your search to your dream wardrobe.

To prevent this dream from turning into a nightmare, Vestiaire trains around 100 “authenticators” around the world to verify designer provenance. Many of them previously worked for the luxury brands sold on the site and have in-depth knowledge of designer hallmarks like stitching, leather quality and hardware (the metal clasps and zippers found on most handbags and shoes). Still, the only way to know for sure that a Chanel flap bag was made by the famed French designer is to ask: brand It’s best to buy from their boutiques. But many shoppers like the odds offered by Vestiaire and other resale sites like RealReal and Fashionphile. “We know that trust is non-negotiable,” Virk says. “If we don’t trust it, we won’t sell it to you.”

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Virk was an early believer in fashion. As a Pakistani-American teenager living in Michigan, she used fashion to blend her parents’ culture with her own. “I grew up with this dichotomy of, ‘How do I balance the culture that my parents want me to have and being an American teenager?’ So I borrowed my mom’s sewing machine and started making traditional Pakistani clothes using modern American fabrics. Because it was the ’90s, I used a lot of cool floral clothes like the girls on TV wore. It was just born out of the fact that I was living in the middle of two cultures, and fashion was the way I found to bridge the two,” she says.

In August, Virk helped Vestiaire build another bridge: the hit Netflix TV show “Emily in Paris,” which has captured the hearts of fashion fans for its use of designer fashion. But while the show’s costumes are famously fabulous and over-the-top, Virk knew Vestiaire’s financial involvement had to be rooted in the story.

“If the characters were going to reference Vestiaire, it was important that the storyline made sense and was authentic. It couldn’t just be all crazy nice clothes and no substance.” Ultimately, Vestiaire became a kind of fairy grandma to aspiring pop star Mindy Chen, who sells designer clothes on the platform after chasing her dreams and going bankrupt in Season 4 Part 1.

Mindy is a fictional girl, played beautifully by actress Ashley Park. Celebrities like Jessica Chastain, Julia Roberts and Kim Kardashian have also sold their own designer clothes on Vestiaire as part of charity sales. Other stars and stylists have been known to sell past red carpet looks on the platform, but they only keep it secret to facilitate the transactions.

Virk can’t reveal the celebrity seller out loud, but even if he did, it wouldn’t be nearly as exciting to scour the site wondering if the $150 Loewe sweater you just bought is actually the same one Zendaya wore in The Challengers. “That’s part of the fun of resale,” Virk says. “You never know who you’re going to end up wearing.”

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