Behind The Scenes of the Vogue Vintage Market

0:05This is The Run Through. I'm Chloe Mao and we are bringing you a very special vintage episode this Tuesday. Hi, my name is Irene Kim, and today I'm taking over for Nicole Phelps at the Vogue Vintage Market. Vogue's production and editorial associate, Irene Kim, went to the Vogue Vintage sale over the weekend and gave us some live reporting on the scene. Okay, so we are on the first floor of the Vogue Vintage Market. It's actually only 45 minutes into the sale, but this place is electric. The racks are almost empty, and there's so many people. Everyone who is it in New York City is here. Tori Birch, Willie Shabaria, Phoebe Tonkin, Gigi Hadee, they're all here.

0:49The sale was bustling, but luckily, Irene was able to interrupt the shopping to share what it was like inside. I am here with Sally Singer, and she is actually also has done many vintage sales before. What do you have today? Okay, right now I have a Vuitton sample tweed jacket. And then I have, which I'm not going to be able to afford, Lapo Elkin's father's jacket made by a tailor in Rome in the 1970s with buttons that are the mark of a San Maritz club, which to me is the most exciting piece here. Okay, so we're here with Milly Chavaria, the iconic New York designer. Are you buying anything today?

1:31I mean, I'm trying to, but there's so many people here that I know and so many fabulous people that I want to know that I haven't quite made it to Iraq. Okay. But I did have my eye on a Chanel necklace over there that looks amazing that I want to add to my collection. And I also want to get a Cartier watch if it's under$200. Yeah, there was one for$205, which I do think it might still be over there. I think that already got picked up by either Willow or Gigi Hadid. Oh, okay. Maybe you can buy it off Gigi for three. Exactly. She also heard from Mark Holgate about the item he thought was the best get at the entire market.

2:10The one thing that caught my eye and that I would buy if I was a shopper is the Balenciaga patchwork floral dress from Demna's very first Balenciaga collection. That, to me, has collector status written all over it. And it was priced at, I think,$550, which I know from looking at resale sites, some auction sites, That's a future investment. Thank you so much, Mark. Thank you, Eileen. Thank you, thank you.

2:39That was so fun. We'll be back in a moment.

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3:30And we're back. Today I am joined in the studio by two of my most beloved colleagues who also happen to be two of the people who love vintage the most, Lila Ramsey, a fashion historian and Vogue editor, and Margot Ambuba, Vogue senior beauty and wellness editor and self-proclaimed vintage aficionado. I'm proclaiming that. Welcome to you both. Hi, Chloe. Hi, Margot. Thanks for having us. We're excited to talk all things vintage. I do think of you two as like my two resident vintage ladies. A friend recently reached out because she was working on the costumes for the Safdie brothers, Marty Supreme movie.

4:12And she was like, where do I go if I want to get actual vintage clothes from the 50s? And I was like, hold, please. I'll ask the two experts at Vogue. And within minutes, there were like 40 suggestions from Margo and Lila. So the slack chain was popping. Yes. Yeah, we were very active. Knowledge runs deep. Before we get into all things vintage, I want to hear about what you did this weekend, Lila, besides the vintage market. How did you decompress? Yesterday, I did absolutely nothing. Oh, good. I couldn't even be bothered to go on a walk in Central Park with my husband. I said, no, I'm just laying horizontal all day.

4:46I really needed to recover. What did you watch? I watched, oh, I watched Adolescence. Oh, God. It was very dark. Are you out of your mind? Did you watch all of it? I did. Straight through? Yes, in one day. It was very dark. Probably not. I was like, I'll be in the park. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, not much of a decompression, maybe. Margot, what did you do this weekend? Obviously attended the vintage sale. I started the book Stag Dance. What is that? It is by the author of Detransition Baby. It's really interesting and good. Did you watch White Lotus last night? I did watch White Lotus. I hate that it's at 9 p.m.

5:21That is my very intense bedtime in my wellness regimen. I am in bed by 8.45 with a book. Phone is bricked, which is this new... Oh, my God. Tell me. Yes. Okay. So this is this device. I have mine stuck on my fridge. I learned about it from my co-worker, Laia. And basically what it is is you can choose for apps to be blocked and you have to physically touch your phone to it to lock and unlock it. What? And my problem a lot of the time is I'll get into bed and I'll think of something and be like, oh, what happened in World War II during this thing? And then I will fall down a rabbit hole and read it for hours.

6:05And then I look up, it's like 2 a.m. and I'm upset with myself. So I ordered this brick. It's in my kitchen. And so I will physically lock myself out of everything except for like the news app and my texts. Wow. Because neither of those are like so entertaining that they would keep me up at night. What about Slack? It's, oh, it's bricked. Interesting. Because I'm trying to. No, no, that's great. I just feel like I can always reach you on Slack. So that's intriguing to me. I am really trying to create some boundaries for myself. I mean, says the person who's like slacks me on a Sunday morning. Should we be doing this piece about blah, blah, blah.

6:42So it's going great. It's not bricked on Sunday morning. It's bricked at nighttime. You just won't hear from me at nighttime now. I also, we had Alice's third birthday party yesterday. which I feel like I'm hung over just from like the sugar and mood swings of that. But she requested a fairy party and my sister and niece made the most incredible fairy house cake that I was like completely awed by, but I ate a lot of it. What flavor was it? It was just this delicious vanilla cake, but it had a layer of pink frosting in the middle with sprinkles in it that just added like a perfect crunch. What did she wear?

7:24Good question. She wore a cute little bon point dress that was a hand-me-down from Ricky DeSole's daughter, Clara. And then immediately she changed into the Rapunzel costume that my mother gave her that is extremely ugly and extremely polyester. And we all wore fairy wings. That's so sweet. Now, speaking of what we wore, I want to go back to the vintage market. Lila, set the scene. What time did you arrive on Saturday morning? What was the setup like? I arrived at 9 a.m., which was two hours before the sale opened to the public, but one hour before it opened to our VIP guests, which you were both a part of and on the list.

8:05The scene was—it was beautiful. Everyone was shopping. I was a little nervous that at the VIP preview, because it was, you know, a breakfast event, coffee was being served. Gigi Hadid was the host alongside Emma Chamberlain and a few other notables who showed up. I was a little nervous that some of these individuals coming to the sale were just there to mingle and not necessarily shop, but that was the opposite of what happened. We had major sales in that first hour. I got pushed by someone. No, you did? The son of a true success. I know. Yeah. People were really shopping. Really, really shopping.

8:44And our editor-in-chief was amazing. She had donated some things anonymously. All of the pieces she had donated had hang tags that said anonymous, so she did not want to be known that they were hers. But then when people started trying them on. However, she was walking around telling people, that's my jacket, you need to buy it. And my favorite story is that she was approached by an individual who had several things draped over her arm and was very excited to see Anna, meet Anna, and said, Anna, could I have a photo with you? And Anna responded, only if you buy all those things. So Anna was making sales.

9:24We were all hustling. Gigi Hadid bought actually several of Anna's things. Cynthia Erivo arrived and she had a major shopping spree. Also purchased several of Anna's things. Gigi Hadid got some things that a few of the staffers had our eye on, but we were happy to let it go for Gigi. Okay, give an example. There was this Balenciaga tote that Iggy was very calling dibs on, had called dibs on it weeks before the sale. And then Gigi showed up and we were all happy to let Gigi have it. Iggy's nicer than me. I would have been like, I'll fight you for it. And what else was happening? Irene Kim did see someone on staff fighting with Law Roach over a coat.

10:06Law was there. And this was not the beginning of the sale. But by the end of the sale, Law, he knows what he's doing. This is not his first rodeo. He's been to many vintage sales. He knows that. Didn't he own a vintage clothing store? Yes, in Chicago for years. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, that was really how he got started. Fascinating. Well, that explains a lot. But he had a selection of 20 pieces, probably the most expensive pieces in the store, in the market. And he was waiting until the bitter end because he knew we were going to discount things. This was a one-day sale. Everything was for charity.

10:38Everything had to go. And he was hanging on until I think he checked out five minutes after the sale closed. Wow. Yes. Did everything go? Most everything went. A few pieces did not go, and all of those will be donated to charity. Wow. I want to know what you bought, Lila. I also waited till the bitter end. And my purchases also involved law. He was pulling a lot of things for Zendaya, which was very exciting to see. There was this one vintage Saint Laurent dress that had been donated by Amy Griffin. It was this beautiful emerald green satin dress, like a midi dress. And he put it back. And then as soon as he put it back on the rack, I plucked it up.

11:20and he walked over to me and he was like, yes, I decided against it, but it has to go to the right person. That right person is you. And then he demanded I try it on. So I go upstairs. I wait in line. I try on the dress in the dressing room because it's a Saint Laurent couture dress. It's incredibly made. The construction was impeccable. There are no zippers, but there are a series of snap closures all over the dress. I come downstairs and he's like, oh my God, it's gorgeous. but honey, you have it on backwards. So I embarrassed myself in front of law. I should have known better. And because of that, I just had to buy the dress because I was so embarrassed.

12:00But no, I came away with that. And actually, another Amy Griffin, Saint Laurent Couture, she was really incredibly generous with her donations. She had some amazing pieces that she donated to the sale. Wow. Margo, what did you buy? I saw a picture of you with a lot of shopping bags. Okay, Kaya snapped a picture of me walking out, and I was so horrified by it because I have, like, four shopping bags. Yeah. I went for more of the, like, true vintage, which is very much, like, my style. I really love. What does that mean? So there's sort of, like, two camps of the vintage world right now, and Lila wrote this great story, actually, about it for us.

12:42True vintage is stuff. What was the story you wrote? When Does Fashion Become Vintage? I believe that was the headline. And basically, true vintage is stuff that is definitely older than 20 years. I have very specific interests when it comes to vintage. I like true vintage. I like stuff from the 40s to the mid-70s. The moment that I get like a whiff of the 80s, I start to appreciate it from afar. It's not for me. And so everything that I got was from the 50s and 60s. I actually picked up a lot of things that the Bloomingdale family donated. Amazing. Yes. Did Haley donate things? No, it was Natalie.

13:23My friend Natalie, who is the biggest 1960s girl, and she has the most insane collection. And she so kindly sent a lot of pieces. And when she was asking me what to send, she was like, oh, I don't think I should send some of the older vintages. I said, no, please send it because a lot of people are sending archival pieces, 80s, 90s. We need the 60s. Are either of you wearing vintage today? Yes. I suspect both. We are. Margot, you go first. Okay. Very different vibes. Yeah, yeah, totally. I feel like this sums us up so well, though. I like to call this my 60s flight attendant outfit. Like, it sort of feels like— What flight?

13:59Like, on a groovy plane. I feel like it's sort of like— To describe. When Courges did the flight attendant outfits for Air France. More with Lila and Margot after the break.

14:45Men from Vanity Fair has everything you need to know about this year's Oscar race. Follow and listen to Little Gold Men wherever you get your podcasts.

14:58Well, I'm very excited. I thought the vintage market was a huge success. It also benefited from that inevitable day in late March, early April, where it's like the first nice day in New York City and everyone goes out. The line was from almost Canal Street all the way around Grand Street to get into the market. Across the street, there were a few PETA protesters. A friend who came texted me after and said, line around the block, PETA protesters, who says New York is dead? It felt like a very robust New York experience. I want to know, Margo orchestrated a fantastic article about how to shop eBay, and there's also a lot of other ways to shop, vintage online, Etsy, et cetera.

15:41What are your number one? Like, say to me, who is always daunted, I only buy, like, children's toys on eBay. What, how do I go about finding, I don't even know what I'm looking for. So I think that we have probably two very different approaches. I am more of a vibes-based shopper. Like, I know eras I like. I have a list on my phone of every single designer I have ever bought so that I know, okay, like maybe I want to dress from the 50s. I should search Susie Perrette or I should search Lily Diamond or I, you know, like people like that. But then at the bottom of the list are just words that I've been really successful with searching in the past plus vintage.

16:24So it could be puff sleeve vintage. It could be drop waist vintage. It could be micro pleat vintage. And so I sort of have two different approaches and then I just see what comes up. And I actually learned something from Lila, which is search by most recently listed. Once you get that. Because I was sort of seeing the same stuff over and over while I was on the hunt for I'm looking for my met ensemble of outfits, something to wear the night of and something to wear to the pre-party. And I have a very specific combination of things that I want. And what is it? I would in an ideal world where black designers, vintage black designers to everything.

17:07Patrick Kelly. There's several pieces on the RealReal. So I love Patrick Kelly. It is 80s. So it's like not for me. So you're just opposed to 80s. I don't. It doesn't look good on me. The shapes don't really work for my body. I have a very You do have sort of a 40s body. Madman body is how I would describe it. Like I'm on the curves side of thing. And I think that 80s was more about a little bit of a straighter figure and slimmer figure while I'm more of a, like, I love a girdle and stuff. I like to get a nice good shape going. Lila, what's your approach when you're searching for something? So we actually have pretty similar approaches.

17:46I'm also searching by vibes. I love Etsy. Etsy was where I first discovered vintage, and that will still be the place that I go to first when I'm shopping for vintage. And I'm also, I love that there's a vintage filter. So on eBay, Perhaps there is a vintage filter on eBay, but I'm less familiar with that. The one on Etsy is pretty great. And you can search, as you were talking about, Margot, by vibe. So you can even type in like Audrey Hepburn dress. And I think what sets— Has I never done that before? That's how I found my wedding dress. So I think the Etsy sellers are really great about also like, I don't know, in their like the metadata of their listing, tagging all these different vibes.

18:29Because you could search like Jackie Kennedy style, Grace Kelly style. I mean, all those are pretty similar. And products will come up. And that's what I love. I love about vintage on Etsy. But I will also search specific designers. Lately, it's been a lot of Victor Costa. I wore a fur Victor Costa to the Vienna Opera Ball. Oh, my God. You looked incredible. That was amazing. Oh, thank you. And like, these are steals. I think the thing that's great about our vintage shopping styles is that we're not looking for like 2004 Dior and therefore there are less people who are interested in what we're interested in and we don't really have to spend as much as some of the other vintage obsessed people.

19:09Though I have to say my like hot tip is if you are interested in those sorts of things, going to the city from which they come from, best place to find it. When I was in Milan for Fashion Week, the amount of vintage Prada that was available for so cheap compared to what I see on the RealReal was incredible. It was getting to the point where I was like, this is too much. I'm buying too much Prada. No such thing. Yeah. Sorry, Mrs. Prada. Well, but speaking of that, of sort of you guys not searching exactly what's on trend, so there's more available to you guys, what are the biggest vintage trends that you're seeing people looking for wearing, searching?

19:49I feel like there's two very different places. There are the red carpet trends that we're seeing, which red carpet dressing has become really fueled, I think, by a lot of nostalgia vintage pieces. These are the McQueen pieces that everyone gasped when they saw in 2002. And then now Katy Perry's wearing it, something like that. And then there are like what the world is doing. Like I'm seeing Betsy, interest in Betsy Johnson is huge right now. It's really interesting. People are really into the OG milkmaid dresses. You have any at your house? No. Oh, darn. You seem like you were a Betsy Johnson girl.

20:28I wasn't actually, but I respect her. Her milkmaid dresses have become so popular and they are so expensive now because of it. Like I think they were probably$200 when they sold. They're going for like$500 or$600. Yeah. It's amazing. Oh, my God. I'm very happy for her but annoyed. I still remember her storefront on Madison Avenue when I was in high school. And like every time I'd walk by, I'd be like, wow, this is a whole vibe. I remember when my dad took me there. I think now it's Love Shack Fancy, which is its own vibe. I spiritually like a dedication to a moment. Yeah, exactly. I remember like my dad taking me to the Galleria in Dallas.

21:08and shopping Betsy Johnson. And I convinced him to get me this like really pretty pink pattern dress because he didn't realize there were skulls hidden inside of it. Thinking it was like such a steal that I got away with it. And then he realized like two months later when I wore it and he was devastated that he bought his like 13-year-old daughter a skull dress that he thought just had like nice little pink birds. Oh my God. That's amazing. We also just saw, I mean, I don't know if this will really become a trend. I'm excited about bullet bras on the Miu Miu runway. I love vintage underpinnings.

21:43And so I'm hoping that it makes a comeback. I think like the shape is really fun, but also a lot of clothing that was made to have, it was made with the vintage bra shape, the vintage underwear shape in mind. And so it like looks kind of weird when you're wearing a modern like globe, Victoria's Secret boob bra. Margot, you've been wearing vintage since you were 15. So maybe that's why it doesn't bother you. What was your first, what was your vintage gateway drug? There was this store in Fort Worth called Bess and Evie's that my mom took me to. And I remember, this is so embarrassing, we had a Hummer.

22:19And we filled the Hummer up with vintage clothing the first time we went. I'm gasping, but you can't hear it. It's very Texas. No, it was a moment in time. Yeah. There were Hummers. I guess there were in L.A., yeah. Yeah, very Arab and very Texan to have a Hummer. Like it was the intersection of both my cultures coming together in one vehicle. And I totally unbeknownst to me about this Lillian coat, which Lillian. I love Lillian. I don't know what that means. She is sort of just a cult vintage designer that made beautiful suits, beautiful jackets, like very specific pieces that people want. Mostly her coats and like outerwear, what people really love.

22:57She does incredible swing coats, which are amazing, like, for people who are looking to wear vintage when they're pregnant and things like that. They're so transitional through life. So they're great investment pieces. And I bought this coat. I had no idea who Lillianne was. I just, like, really liked the tag. I love looking at tags. I'll buy things sometimes just because, like, the tag has a cool vibe. And that was my first piece. And I wore it until literally the elbows are threadbare. I still have it. And like there are giant chunks of it essentially missing because it got like so beat up. But I wore it for almost 30 years.

23:31I mean 15 years. I'm 30. I'm in my 30s. I don't know how to do math. Wow. Margot's in fact 72 years. Yeah, I'm a 75. I'm a beauty editor, not a math editor. Oh, my God. Lila, how about you? I came on to vintage a little later than Margot. I think I was in my very, very late teens, maybe early 20s, and I fell really hard for vintage. And this was also around the time that Mad Men was out. And I almost committed to a fully—I know, I always say, like, Betty Draper, 1950s. I have to acknowledge that the show did start, I think, in the year 1960s. So it's inaccurate when people talk about, like, the 50s fashion on Mad Men.

24:17So keep that in mind. But I went really hard on dressing head-to-toe vintage from 50s era. Anything like new look, which included girdle. I remember one year I came home for Christmas and I had a girdle on and I could not eat my Christmas dinner. I had to go upstairs, take the girdle off, come back downstairs so I could like properly finish my meal. But that was a short-lived phase because I realized how impractical it was. Guys, I'm talking garter belts and everything. I was insane. I love that. Yes, yes. I have the photos to show you. I have many memories of walking down the street in my 1950 shoes, which would just disintegrate beneath my feet because they're, you know, vintage shoes, which I also do very— So you wear shoes but not underwear?

24:58Well, I think the shoes I was buying were also dead stock. Like, you can tell if a shoe's been, like, worn. But so I sort of realized that it was, like, a full-time commitment and I didn't have, you know, the Dita Von Tis reason to be dressing so historically accurate in a particular era. or the lifestyle, frankly. I was walking around like school at NYU wearing all these ridiculous things. But it was a moment of my life that I cherish and I still have a lot of those pieces. And then I just sort of widened my scope of like what sorts of vintage I was interested in. But I also try not to be too, I don't want to bounce around too much because I like to have a particular like look and style.