Collectors, merchants ... luxury vintage gold researchers<

"One day, I received the call from a man who tells me that his wife must absolutely empty his cupboards filled with parts of designers, but that she has trouble taking action. I feel that he puts a lot of emotion there. At 20, this woman rubbed shoulders with the Jet-Set and the All-Paris, including Yves Saint Laurent. She had Yves Saint Laurent, of course, but also Dior or Chanel from the time ..., all perfectly maintained and put under cover. I had to come back three times to take everything. It was two years ago, since I sold everything. When you come across such beautiful pieces, everything leaves very quickly, "says Carole Bigielman, founder of vintage fashion, a shop specializing in the high -end, which is a storefront in Paris, in the 11th arrondissement. This kind of anecdotes, Carole can tell the shovel since she has been working as a merchant - as they say in jargon - for thirty -five years. More recently, it was a great French actress who left her some 300 pieces of her wardrobe, new or barely worn. In the lot, there are Chanel blouses, a Louis Vuitton dress by Nicolas Ghesquière, Roger Vivier pumps.

To read also "Vintage, second hand ... Can recovery save the world?

In video, the fashion industry in twelve key figures

A fallback solution

The prices are at the discretion of the saleswoman and, obviously, it never reveals the origin.Besides, no high -end vintage merchant or collector gives an indication of the origin of his stock.Secret is the basis of this job.Besides, what does the luxury vintage designate exactly?"This is what is dated from a bygone era," decrypts Alice Hebrard-Lemaire, head of this sector at collective cloakroom.This is a room that can be signed and store in a specific location in the history of fashion.For example, we can consider Vintage a Louis Vuitton play from the time when Marc Jacobs was the artistic director. "

The second -hand demand, in which we include luxury vintage, explodes at this time when overconsumption is questioned: the market is estimated at 30, even 40 billion dollars (25 to 34 billion euros) by the Boston Consulting Group, and it is expected to grow from 15 % to 20 % per year over the next five years according to a collective cloakroom study, online deposit-sale site devoted to luxury. And the windfall is not about to dry up: "During confinement, people took the time to empty their closets that you have never found as much vintage as this year", enthuses Sofia Bernardin, Co -founder of Resee, a high -end vintage platform online created eight years ago, which does not know the crisis since it displays 20 % of growth in 2020. Even if the arrival of new big digital actors like vined , Collector Square or, more recently, imperfect came to upset the market and rebut its cards.

Summer looks

After having made his classes with Didier Ludot, one of the precursors of luxury vintage in Paris, and with a sales house in Drouot, Alice Hebrard-Lemaire joined collective cloakroom in 2018 as a vintage manager.The online sales platform specializing in the second hand takes this sector very seriously (a tab is dedicated to it) which represents 15 % of the overall supply.“For having started there, I know that the vintage world is special, omniscient and waterproof to novelty and renewal.So one of my first tasks was to convert a lot of traditional sellers, refractory to the Internet.Result: today, 25 % of vintage deposits are made by professionals, "comments the 30 -year -old.

A profile like that of this expert, passed by vintage houses, with historical knowledge of fashion is blessed bread for a pure player of the net.Collector Square, another powerful player in the sale of vintage and second -hand luxury online, also recruits its specialists from sales homes or art trades.The advantage: these profiles allow them to bring their stock up to date, to create a look today with pieces of yesterday to show that the only thing that is demoded is not so much these pieces,But the way of carrying them.

This taste, this know-how makes it possible to better enhance the part to, ultimately, sell it more easily.“My arrival at Vestiaire coincided with the presentation of the first collection of Hedi Slimane at Celine.So, I came out of the catalog of old pieces with which we presented ten looks resembling those of the podium.We sold everything in a few hours, ”recalls Alice Hebrard-Lemaire.

Independent expert in vintage mode, spent at Artcurial for three years to develop the fashion niche, Penelope Blanchekaert realizes that her job has changed with the appearance of these platforms: "I do not do any expertise as before, I do“Put in context”.As today we can access luxury by the second hand, and that we have gone from an economy of property to that of use, it is essential to operate a revaluation work to show buyers how s'appropriate the room today, ”explains the one who signed in September 2020 a fashion series mixing old and recent for collector square.

A windfall for creators

Putting in perspective, associating, remembering and updating according to the air of the times is one of the major talents of a good vintage researcher.Like Bay Garnett, ex-style for the English Vogue and called the Queen of the Fricer, known for "redoing" the looks of the cheaper parades with Shrberry, who is the current fashion director forthe charitable organization Oxfam.

What boosted his career?A small cotton top with a banana print purchased $ 10 in the secondary clothes."It was in 2003, for a shoot, I had her wear to Kate Moss.Result, at the end of the series in the magazine, I immediately received a phone call from Phoebe Philo, then artistic director at Chloé.She asked me if she could use this top.The rest is part of the story since, a little later, I discovered it in a collection of the house, "she recalls with a slight point of bitterness.Creatives in search of inspiration in fashion archives are the daily lot of vintage researchers since the succession of designers at the head of the houses has accelerated.

Since she started her collection and founded Passage Paris twenty-five years ago, Zohra Alami has been working hand in hand with a few prestigious fashion houses. Impossible to know which, of course. However, it is enough to enter its space in the 11th arrondissement of Paris to understand why it makes all artistic directors vibrate. On three floors, Zohra offers 30,000 references, classified by clothing categories rather than brands, from the 1970s to today, with a clear attraction for the 1990s, when she worked for Jean Colonna. There are pieces of the creator of the 1970s Anne-Marie Beretta, Martin Margiela when his house, Popy Moreni, Maud Frizon, or more recently, was still at the head of her house or as boys. His collection also houses pieces by collector Olivier Châtenet, known for having sold his collection of Yves Saint Laurent pieces at a good price a few years ago, or Kenzo more recently.

A niche for fans

For the time being, at Zohra, nothing is for sale.So how does it work?"I started by recovering pieces from Claude Montana, Jean Colonna, Ann Demeulemeester, in press sales.It allowed me to have a nice collection to start.Then I was made donations.I do not sell but I rent, and the income of these rentals allows me to continue to buy the fund and to finance this place.I first source parts for myself, and then I see if it may interest the houses I work with.These are very private meetings, and I try not to meet anyone ... "The seal of secret again and always.

But we are not mistaken, it is not a job of speculator but of passionate. "When you Chinese, you never stop. Everything revolves around that, all the time, everywhere, "confirms Carole Bigielman, who says she doesn't get rich. Another feature of a vintage fan, it must display a style through a selection of parts. "The resale market is so huge that it is important to differentiate yourself. I consider myself the antithesis of this system. I started ten years ago with punk pieces of creators like Vivienne Westwood or Gareth Pugh. Today, I consider myself a niche more than a platform. I offer an attitude, not just a garment. The people who come to us are connoisseurs who are looking for a certain kind of vintage, ”says Gill Linton, founder of the Byronesque site. It is with his fashion look that a vintage researcher settles down and lasts. We find at home what you don't find elsewhere. Because offering its followers a unique look is also one of the vintage strengths. With him, no chance of ending up with the same top fast fashion as the office neighbor. So who can claim that the past has no future?

Save on your fashion shopping with a Yoox promo code

The editorial staff advises you