The red carpet has been rolled out. The gold statuettes are polished. And the dresses? Well, for many celebrities attending this year’s Oscars 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, the best actress nominee Emma Stone will no doubt be wearing the French brand) but many A-listers are increasingly delving into fashion’s archives. Zendaya’s recent Dune tour wardrobe, for instance, spanned vintage 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 in the hope of creating a future viral look at Sunday’s ceremony.
“We are still getting dozens and dozens of requests for fittings,” says Alexis Novak, the founder of the LA store Tab Vintage. “We are 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 coolest women in film such as The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri and The Morning Show’s Greta Lee. Novak describes the process as “collaborative”. Sometimes a stylist will give her a list of specific items they’d like her to find, other times Novak will suggest pieces she has unearthed that she thinks may appeal to a certain A-lister’s aesthetic.
For this year’s Oscars ceremony, Novak says she is seeing demand for “really opulent pieces”. Similar to the mob wife aesthetic, Novak has noted a resurgence of interest in dresses with old Hollywood glamour – floor-length gowns with intricate beadwork from Donatella Versace’s early noughties collections are gaining traction. She is hoping a 2003 haute couture shimmering and tasseled black gown from the Italian powerhouse and a 2001 Valentino sheer gold gown with delicate crystal detailing make the final cut. “We are leaving behind that quiet luxury 90s minimal vibe,” she says.
Johnny Valencia, the owner of Pechuga Vintage in LA, and Christelle McCracken, from My Runway Archive in London, cite a renewed curiosity in dramatic pieces from John Galliano’s early Christian Dior collections, in part fuelled by Kevin MacDonald’s gripping documentary that has just hit screens. Valencia has also had a slew of requests for 90s Mugler and Vivienne Westwood, while old-school accessories including elbow-length gloves and feather boas are also in favour.
The Oscars may be hailed as the biggest night in film but its impact is equally felt in the fashion world. Last year’s televised ceremony drew more than 18 million viewers on ABC alone. Add to the mix the live streaming of the red carpet from entertainment platforms such as E! News and social media, where individual looks are spotlighted, scrutinised and regularly memeified, and it’s got the potential to catapult a celebrity’s career to new heights.
Not only can an archival look be epoch-making (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 younger fans who champion secondhand shopping.
With its popularity soaring, 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 there are now hundreds battling it out until the gavel bangs.
On secondhand platforms such as eBay, Novak and McCracken have experienced situations where their buys have been cancelled, sometimes seconds after confirmation, due to another bidder covertly contacting the seller directly with an offer above their winning bid.
In LA, vintage hunters often find themselves donning plastic gloves to rummage late at night through estate sales – a common practice in America where a person’s entire possessions are liquidated. Valencia has flown from LA to London to personally collect a 1981 Issey Miyake corset he paid £40,000 for, and to the south of France to pick up a singular shirt by Jean Paul Gaultier.
McCracken was recently approached by a private collector who had 20 pieces of vintage Dior, including John Galliano’s famous “newspaper dress”. She bought the lot and expects the gown alone to fetch upwards of £45,000.
Novak often finds cheaper overlooked pieces that have been “lying torn or ripped in the back of someone’s closet”. A Todd Oldham beaded gown had been put through a washing machine, causing thousands of the beads to rip off, and Novak hand sewed them back on. She also restored an 80s Thierry Mugler gown she had found in “bad shape” by gently handwashing it multiple times and rewiring the bodice. Kourtney Kardashian chose to wear it for her 2022 Oscars debut.
Having experienced situations where dresses have come back damaged and torn, most of the vintage hunters now charge for loans or implement a buy-to-wear policy. “These pieces are irreplaceable,” says Novak. “With all of the time, money and research I put into finding them, I feel it’s my responsibility to care for them.”
