CITY Issue 54

THE VALUE OF VINTAGE SEARCHING THROUGH A RACK OF 1970s PUCCI A rare vintage dress by a top designer can be a pricey investment, but with no strict set of rules to determine its value, how do you know what your classic couture is worth? Renee Lucas finds out. dresses at Manhattan’s vintage boutique Resurrection, Neva Lindner is getting her wardrobe ready for spring. “I’m here to check out what pieces have been brought in for the new season,” Lindner says. “I was hoping to get a couple of gowns and perhaps some cocktail dresses for my clients. Mostly cocktail dresses—I find that my clients are more willing to do vintage if the look is not completely formal.” Lindner is the founder and CEO of Wardrobe, a high-end clothing rental salon based in New York and Los Angeles. Her clients include celebrities and society figures that like to rent, instead of always having to buy, a new party dress for their numerous red carpet and social events. Wardrobe carries a long list of modern labels including Alexander McQueen, Christian Lacroix, and Chloé, but Lindner also dedicates about 20 percent of her inventory to vintage dresses by designers like Geoffrey Beene, Pucci, and Givenchy. “A lot of my clients love vintage, particularly celebrities and people looking to wear something unique and special,” she says. “Chances are, no one will be wearing the same thing. “ Walking into a room wearing a one-of-a-kind outfit is important to most fashion-forward people, but to truly stand apart from the crowd, you have to make sure you trust your stylist, or the store where you buy vintage. It’s different than having a piece of fine art or jewelry appraised where serious collectors trust only the most respected auction houses or reputable dealers. The quality and authenticity is taken into consideration, and in the end, the purchase is considered a pricey investment. So what happens when this art is not a painting or jewel, but a piece of clothing? Certainly the price point of an evening gown can match that of a painting. But with no distinct standards for vintage clothing appraisal, who can you trust to put a seal of authenticity on an outfit? And what are they basing these decisions on? “I wouldn’t say that there is an industry standard. It’s a little bit more abstract,” explains Abigail Rutherford, director of Vintage Couture and Accessories at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago. “I say it’s vintage if its at least 25 years old, but it really depends on who you are talking to.” Retail vintage expert Cameron Silver agrees that it’s difficult to decide on the exact age that a piece needs to be. He has owned the well-respected vintage boutique Decades in Los Angeles since 1997, and travels around the globe to hand-pick everything he puts in his store. “Vintage is constantly being reevaluated, as contemporary clothing is becoming more valuable in a short period of time,” Silver says. “Initially when I opened the store it was at least something that was 30 years old. But now there are pieces from the early ’90s that are proving to be collectible. It’s almost as if something that is 15 years old has the potential to be considered vintage.” But just because a piece of clothing is old, it’s not always considered vintage. Although there are no set of exact standards, Silver makes up his own rules, and as a leader in the industry, his A-list clients respect his opinion. “There is used clothing, and there is vintage couture,” he says. “Certainly for our store, we are looking for extraordinary 20th-century design. To me, it’s quality, wearability, the condition, and the provenance.” Looking past just the name on the label is also of great importance. Long after the Cocos and Christians stop sketching and sewing, new reinvigorated talent takes control and certain designers become more collectible than others. “People have to do their due diligence on their designer,” says Rutherford. “They have to understand that a 1952 Christian Dior ball gown is actually Christian Dior. They have to understand that a 1954 Coco Chanel skirt suit is actually designed by Coco Chanel reopening after her hiatus during the war. You have to look at who was the brains behind the piece.” Looking at the labor behind the label is apparent in vintage lovers’ peculiar interest in late 1980s Perry Ellis. While Perry Ellis is not in high demand, many collectors do keep an eye out for his pieces when it-boy Marc Jacobs was at the company, having taken over the women’s line when Ellis died in 1986. Equally as important as the designer or the year is the way it translates into current fashion trends. If a sexy and eye-catching vintage piece can be worn today, you can expect to pay a higher price—anywhere from $850 to tens of thousands of dollars for a designer vintage gown in great CITY 57

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CITY Issue 54

CITY Issue 54 Contents Letter from CITY Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment The City Life The Amused Bouche On the Rocks Fast Food City Insider: Austin Fit How We Live: The Bedroom City Insider: Warsaw In Rogue The Value of Vintage Taking the Plunge Raising the Bar The Science of Scent Changing of the Guard The New Fashion Cities A Cut Above Chrysalis What Dreams May Come Dawn & Dusk Will o' the Wisp Where To Buy It Socials Icon

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