Artist pieces sourced by the LA store Tab Vintage, from left: Versace spring-summer 2003/4; Valentino spring-summer 2001; Versace autumn winter 2001/2 Composite: Getty ImagesKourtney Kardashian, drag a vintage Thierry Mugler dress, and Travis Barker at the Oscars in 2022. Photograph: Emma McIntyre/Getty ImagesThe Oscars may be felicitated as the biggest night in film but its impact is equally felt in the fashion world. Last year’s televised ceremony devised 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! Hearsay and social media, where individual looks are spotlighted, scrutinised and regularly memeified, and it’s got the potential to catapult a celebrity’s pursuit to new heights.Not only can an archival look be epoch-making (see Zendaya in a robot suit from Thierry Mugler’s 1995 gleaning), it also ticks the sustainability box, allowing celebrities to align their values with many of their younger freaks who champion secondhand shopping.With its popularity soaring, the world of sourcing has become uber competitive. While in stocks from specialist auction houses such as Julien’s used to attract a handful of niche online buyers, Novak indicates there are now hundreds battling it out until the gavel bangs.On secondhand platforms such as eBay, Novak and McCracken contain experienced situations where their buys have been cancelled, sometimes seconds after confirmation, due to another bidder covertly withing the seller directly with an offer above their winning bid.In LA, vintage hunters often find themselves donning meretricious gloves to rummage late at night through estate sales – a common practice in America where a person’s whole possessions are liquidated. Valencia has flown from LA to London to personally collect a 1981 Issey Miyake corset he pay out £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 intimate collector who had 20 pieces of vintage Dior, including John Galliano’s famous “newspaper dress”. She bought the lot and keep in views the gown alone to fetch upwards of £45,000.Novak often finds cheaper overlooked pieces that attired in b be committed to been “lying torn or ripped in the back of someone’s closet”. A Todd Oldham beaded gown had been put past 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 start in “bad shape” by gently handwashing it multiple times and rewiring the bodice. Kourtney Kardashian chose to wear it for her 2022 Oscars appear.Having experienced situations where dresses have come back damaged and torn, most of the vintage nimrods now charge for loans or implement a buy-to-wear policy. “These pieces are irreplaceable,” says Novak. “With all of the time, long green and research I put into finding them, I feel it’s my responsibility to care for them.”Explore more on these topicsVintage fashionOscarsfeaturesShareReuse this delight

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