Her 12.1 million YouTube subscribers would probably love Emma Chamberlain's step-by-step tutorial detailing how she stocked her closet with '90s vintage Prada and rare Margiela sneakers. But the podcaster and fashion week regular doesn't think she can give one—because she and her best friend-slash-stylist, Jared Ellner, have a gift for the fashion hunt that transcends words.
"We fully have fashion telepathy and don't even have to talk. We like walk into a vintage store, and we like look at something, and then we look in each other's eyes and know exactly what we're thinking," Chamberlain tells me on a phone call. "It's like, very bizarre and weird, and ultimately should be studied by scientists."
There's still something Chamberlain can share—a haul from her actual closet. She's launched “From the Collection: Emma Chamberlain," an eBay storefront with dozens of her pre-loved pieces up for auction. Bids opened today at $0.99 and will close on November 9. Proceeds will benefit the nonprofit Save the Children.
With help from a friend, Chamberlain cleared out 100 items from the archive that's grown along with her following. There's a pair of vintage Versace jeans she sourced in Italy; a fire-engine red Diesel bag she toted to Coachella; and a straight-off-the-runway pair of Fall 2021 Louis Vuitton loafers.
She's not sure exactly what will fetch the highest bid: "Everybody's personal style is so different and all over the place." But Chamberlain suspects her collection of Prada, Jacquemus, and Gucci bags will be the most sought-after. "Bags are great because there's no sizing," she explains. "You can tell by looking at it if you're gonna love it."
Still, the true fashion heads in her following might also jump at the chance to bid on her funky Margiela sneakers or Jimmy Choo x Jean Paul Gaultier fold-over boots.
You could say shopping secondhand on eBay is in Chamberlain's DNA. Her affinity for a great find started, she says, with her grandmother tracking down her My Little Pony toys on the platform. All these years later, Chamberlain has worn items sourced from the platform to events like the Met Gala.
"I would not be who I am in fashion if I didn't shop secondhand," Chamberlain says. She can chart the progression of her journey from anonymous high schooler to multi-hyphenate mogul through the pieces she's thrifted.
"I went from being at school to being in the real world, and it was like, 'Oh wait, now I can wear whatever I want, and no one's gonna laugh at me because I'm not in the bubble that is school," she reflects. "Over the last eight years or so, it's been this entire journey of me figuring out what my personal style is, to be honest."
She's used her red carpet fashion to test pieces she wouldn't necessarily choose in real life. (They're loans, after all.) Shopping has been her place to invest in what she thinks she'll stick with—but her closet clean-out made her recognize how much her definition of "timeless" has evolved. "Listen, if I could go back in time, would I do things a little bit differently? Would I buy a few less things Absolutely."
"That's why we're doing this right now," Chamberlain laughs, referencing her sale, "because Emma bought too many things. Emma bought too many things that she could never possibly appreciate in my lifetime!"
She's excited to see what happens when the bidding closes and her pieces find new homes. "Let's give these things that exist in my closet that I'm not using to people who are going to love them and it's gonna be a staple in their wardrobe."
Post-clean-out, the star hasn't entirely sworn off her own eBay searches for '90s vintage Prada or IRL vintage trips with Ellner, however. "Am I, like, done shopping forever? No."
