In October, the relationship between the youngest of the Kardashian clan, Kylie Jenner, and actor Timothée Chalamet, was confirmed. Prior to the actor's statements on the matter, a kiss between the two was caught on camera during a Beyoncé concert. For the occasion, she wore a strapless dress from Maison Margiela's 2008 spring/summer collection, with a hyper-realistic print created by Martin Margiela himself, the great Belgian designer who would leave the world of fashion a year later.
The icons of generation Z, such as Zendaya, Florence Pugh or Kylie Jenner herself, are starring in one of the most famous social, cultural and economic phenomena of recent times in the world of fashion. Not only are they the image of the main campaigns of the big brands, but they are making them relaunch the great successes of their past on the market. We have seen it with the return of iconic bags, such as Fendi's Baguette, Balenciaga's Motorcycle (now under the City name) or Gucci's Horsebit. But there is still more. Just a few weeks ago, the Business of Fashion platform explained in an article by Marc Bain and Sarah Elson how this segment of the population is obsessed with acquiring garments designed decades ago, even beyond haute couture.
An example of this is GAP's sweatshirts, t-shirts and jeans from the 2000s, which are highly valued on platforms such as eBay and Depop, while the same buyers are unaware of what is currently sold in the stores of this North American textile company. .
The reason? “The quality is much higher than that of the garments on sale today and the new generations are much more aware of this than fast fashion should recognize. In addition, they are pieces that exude that Y2K nostalgia that defines centennials,” says Madeleine White, trend analyst at WGSN.
So much so that, as Bain and Elson report in Business of Fashion, GAP has seen its sales decrease by 13% in the first quarter compared to the previous year, while its 2000s garments generate large sums and traffic to the platforms. online vintage sales. For example, “since the beginning of 2023, searches for GAP jeans in the online market have skyrocketed and a large part of the supply has been exhausted,” they explain. “All of this has led the brand to seek to capitalize on this interest with a collection of vintage pieces under the direction of Sean Wotherspoon, the owner of Round Two, the popular retro store in Los Angeles famous for its curation of antique pieces,” they add. the authors. “These garments from yesteryear have small, beautiful details that you probably won't see in any garment produced today,” explains Erin Wylie at the head of the Blackbird Spyplane newsletter, in which she has also published a photo of her GAP anorak of the 2000s purchased online.
“If you look at this Chanel coat, the quality is unique even today. It's from the seventies, when Coco was still alive. Garments are no longer made with these materials and this care,” Paula Prieto, head of the luxury Alabama Collect showroom in Barcelona, tells Magazine Lifestyle.
These exclusive pieces can today be replicated in other colors and materials (or if desired in the vast majority of cases) by the brand founded by Coco Chanel thanks to the fact that the house's centuries-old archives have been maintained to this day. Karl Lagerfeld used to consult them every season and contemporary them, as can be seen in the exhibition that houses the V
It is the same case with other historical houses such as Hermès, Luis Vuitton or Gucci. “Even so, haute couture brands are not interested in having too many garments from a certain collection circulating on the market. They prefer their vintage to be part of a kind of treasure hunt in order to maintain their status,” says Madeleine White.
Google, through the We wear culture platform, has been digitizing clothing from major brands for some years now with the support of more than 180 institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, the V
Now, there are designers who, since they do not belong to the large conglomerates of the world of haute couture, have not been able to keep much of their creations from yesteryear and who perhaps would like to be able to launch a revision.
This seems to be the case of Anna Sui, who, seeing the interest aroused by certain pieces of hers from the late nineties on the networks, decided to personally contact a second-hand seller, Casey Lo (@SeekTheFinds on social networks). In various media, such as The Cut, we have been able to read the message she sent him to buy the velvet dress that the designer had put on sale in 1998, saying: “Hello, I'm Anna Sui. I saw you had already sold this, but I was wondering if it would be possible for me to purchase it? It would mean a lot to me to have it on file.”
As can be read in Business of Fashion, 80% of Depop users were born between 1995 and the early 2000s and practically never set foot in physical stores. Being aware of this, it is large companies like Poshmark or Yoox that offer second-hand products. “They know that young people with high purchasing power or stylists looking to rent an archival garment have in mind the authenticity and iconography of that garment in question.
At the same time, those who buy are clear that these garments will appreciate more every day given their scarcity. According to reports from several companies and consultancies, resale is expected to grow at least double that of last year in one year,” White concludes. There are those who claim that in this sector of exponential economic growth, the past has never been so fruitful.
