Why Is Everyone Hosting a Closet Sale Right Now?

The original post is located at www.elle.com 

On May 14, 2023, an event changed the course of secondhand shopping forever: Chloë Sevigny hosted her closet sale. To be clear, she didn’t invent the concept of a closet sale, nor did she do it in a fundamentally different way. But on that fateful day, as shoppers gathered into a line that wrapped twice around a New York City block, the actress, model, and all-around cool girl ignited a fervor.

Closet sales, or IRL pop-up shops selling the secondhand clothing and accessories of a specific person or small group, feel like the delightful combination of a trunk show and celebrity meet-and-greet. Following Sevigny’s sale—where she sold coveted items like an Hermès trench, a $825 leopard-print Supreme coat, a Versace Medusa-print minidress, a chess set made by Chanel, and a tartan school-girl dress that Olivia Rodrigo nabbed—there have been more notable closet sales than can be succinctly listed. Celebrities, including Jenna Lyons, Paloma Elsesser, and Ivy Getty, have taken part; the who’s who of fashion and culture, including Leandra Medine Cohen, Harling Ross Anton, Emilia Petrarca, Laura Reilly, and Juliana Salazar have brought out crowds to shop their clothes. In New York City, the closet sale circuit has reached such a fever pitch that you can scour someone’s wardrobe nearly every weekend. Shoppers have left these sales with iconic items, like the lace Chanel booties Medine Cohen wore to her wedding rehearsal dinner or a sweater that Karl Lagerfeld hand-painted.

And there’s no sign these sales are slowing down. On September 8, right in the middle of New York Fashion Week, Becky Malinsky, stylist and writer of the beloved 5 Things You Should Buy newsletter (more than 56,000 subscribers and counting), is selling 60 of her most prized fashion items at Club Vintage in downtown Manhattan. “There’s a drop-waist Miu Miu denim skirt and a top from the Christian Lacroix x Dries collaboration season in there,” Malinsky tells ELLE.com, explaining that she’s been thoughtful about the selection. “I’m sensitive that it carries my name in a way. You want it to feel like it’s an edit that reflects you.” Malinsky will donate a portion of the proceeds to a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris. “It will have a charity component, so I want it to feel really special,” she adds.

It might be surprising that people show up in droves for sale after sale. Even B.C.S.C.S (Before Chloë Sevigny’s Closet Sale), there were (and still are!) many methods for shopping old clothes, including consignment stores, stoop sales, and the many tech solutions for resale, including the likes of eBay, The RealReal, Depop, Poshmark, and even Substack. In their most basic form, closet sales aren’t all that different from a garage sale. Ironically, they’re seldom held in an actual closet, and instead most frequently hosted in vintage stores or warehouses better suited to foot traffic. What’s clear is that the selling point of closet sales has little to do with the format itself; success in a closet sale has less to do with the “how” and everything to do with the “who.”

Petrarca, a freelance writer and the author of Shop Rat, a newsletter about style happening offline, recently did a closet cleanout after coming home from a month-long trip during which she lived out of a carry-on suitcase. “I was feeling very overwhelmed by stuff,” she says. When asked why she thinks closet sales are having a moment, Petrarca tells ELLE.com, “I think people are eager to buy clothes with a personal connection.” She saw this firsthand when she hosted her closet sale at Club Vintage, an online and brick-and-mortar vintage store with 130-plus vendors. “I got the sense that the fact that I wore something and loved it, and it was a part of my life in some way, increased its value, rather than decreased it, which is not usually the case with vintage,” Petrarca says.

Harling Ross Anton, a brand consultant and the writer behind Gumshoe, a fashion newsletter that explores strategies for shopping smarter, echoed that sentiment. She has hosted numerous closet sales in the past several years, most recently holding one at Seven Wonders Collective, a “vintage dreamland” with three IRL locations in New York City. “They feel a lot more personal than sending your clothes off to a resale site,” Anton Ross says. “There’s something very communal and festive about them.” Alessandra DiBernardo, a vintage seller at Seven Wonders Collective, volunteered to help staff Anton Ross’s sale. “I’ve followed her since she was at Man Repeller,” she says. “So I was excited to work the closet sale and also to shop at it.” DiBernardo went home with two amazing finds: DÔEN velvet hot shorts and a pair of Sonia Rykiel two-tone denim jeans. “We find that the more well-known the person is, the more people come just to meet the person—then shopping their closet is an extra bonus,” says DiBernardo, who has worked at several sales. At Anton Ross’s, she notes “a lot of people came to chat with her and meet her.”

Club Vintage founder Anna Gray has helped some of New York’s most fashionable people host more than 10 closet sales in the past two years; she’s also hosting Malinsky’s sale in September. “I think the excitement is around meeting said person and owning something of theirs,” Gray says. Every time Club Vintage partners with an influencer or stylist to sell items from their closet, she observes that shoppers wait patiently for them to arrive and then work up the courage to introduce themselves. “The shoppers will say things like, ‘I’ve been following you for years, and you’ve influenced me in this one particular way,’” Gray tells ELLE.com. “It’s very beautiful and just very sweet.”

That’s not to say there aren’t a lot of people on the closet-sale circuit for the clothes themselves. Oftentimes, celebrities and stylists have items that the normal layperson can’t find off the rack, whether because they’re couture, gifted, or custom pieces; so shopping their archives means potentially getting your hands on a rare piece of fashion history. Fashion writer Danya Issawi, a frequent closet-sale shopper, has found some gems. “I bought a piece from Chloë’s closet, because it was Opening Ceremony, which she had a collab with in the mid–2000s that doesn’t exist anymore,” she says, describing the gray cashmere cardigan she purchased. “It was my first time being able to tangibly have a garment from a fashion icon.” Sustainability consultant and writer Hilliary Bianca Salamanca purchased an Attersee sculpted vest from Chloe Fineman’s closet sale this summer. “It was an item I had previously admired but didn’t want to purchase new or at full price. I love the menswear-inspired suiting fabric of the vest—it has quickly become part of my regular rotation,” she tells ELLE.com.

Recent size-inclusive closet sales, such as the “For the Girls” sale, hosted by supermodel Paloma Elsesser, Lynette Nylander, Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, Steff Yotka, and Ariella Starkman, have also helped increase access to unique pieces for all bodies. Issawi attended the “For the Girls” sale and remarked on what a truly joyful experience it was; she notes that spirits remained high even after shoppers waited hours in line. “It was such a positive experience for a lot of people who don’t get to wear high-end, high-fashion stuff all the time,” she says. “I think it does create more accessibility and democratizes fashion in that sense.” Melissa Blumberg, founder of Seven Wonders Collective, hosted a closet sale for models Imani Randolph, Minami Gessel, and Diana Veras in May and said that the size-inclusive sale was one of their busiest. “Our size-inclusive closet sales have brought even more excitement and energy to the store,” she says. “The desire for variety in vintage sizing is definitely there.”

In addition to access, another perk of buying directly from someone is authentication. When buying online, you can’t always be sure of the provenance of the piece or whether or not it’s real. Gray noted that’s one of the perks of shopping at a well-known person’s closet sale. “You trust them already, which is why you love them and follow them, and you know that piece has already been vetted, especially if you can be like, ‘Oh look, here’s that person wearing that thing from a couple months ago,’ and now it’s for sale,” she says.

The allure of a good deal is also compelling. Because the sellers and venues set the prices, some will make sure to keep everything within a certain range. Paloma Elsesser’s sale was one such example. “At that sale, the group of girls made their prices more inclusive, which was really nice,” Issawi says. “I think those girls understood that the people shopping are fans of fashion, but we’re not people who can afford those things off the runway to begin with. That’s why we’re at the closet sale half the time.” Issawi scored a shirt from Cou Cou Intimates for $20, two pairs of Levi’s for $30 each, and a pair of 100-percent cotton pants from Faithfull The Brand for $20 that she believes retail around $120. “I was like, I’m committing crimes here,” says Issawi with a laugh. “I was getting bargains. All the girls were getting bargains.”

For Ross Anton, making things affordable at her sale was one of her main goals. “I priced stuff quite low, because I wanted it to sell quickly,” she says. “My goal was less about making a huge profit and more about enjoying the experience and meeting people.” And shoppers did indeed unearth finds at Anton Ross’s sale. “One of my friends got what would have been a $1,000 bag from The Row for an absolute steal,” Blumberg says.

As for the sellers, hosting a sale can be a timesaver. Selling clothes online is often burdensome, with people spending hours photographing, pricing, and researching clothes in order to list them online; then, they have to decide if they want to barter with potential buyers. Similarly, anyone who has hosted any sort of in-person event knows that getting everything set up requires a big effort. It makes sense that celebrities, stylists, and influencers are partnering with experienced vintage sellers to manage their sales for them, resulting in a win-win for all parties involved—more traffic for the vintage stores and a smoother experience for the sellers and shoppers alike.

“My experience was really lovely and seamless, thanks to the team at Seven Wonders Collective who took care of all the logistics,” Anton Ross says. “I’ve done closet sales on my own before, and it’s a lot more work.” Petrarca was equally as complimentary about her experience selling through Club Vintage. “I sell my stuff through a lot of different avenues, and Anna [Gray] is good at parsing through what should go to Beacon’s Closet, The RealReal, and other places,” she says. “I totally trust her with my clothes and love how easy she makes it.” Gray partners with the hosts of the sales from the very beginning, helping them go through a portion of their closets to pick 30-50 items for the sale, and donating whatever doesn’t make the cut. Both Club Vintage and Seven Wonders Collective use a consignment model for closet sales, meaning they take a small percentage of the profit on each item sold. In return for the commissions, venues provide space, marketing, inventory management, styling, and staffing. Some will even provide snacks.

The close connection with the venue also ensures that sellers can customize the sales however they want—and buyers get a distinctive shopping experience. Each of the members of the “For the Girls” sale gave a portion of their proceeds to a specific charity or organization. Malinsky, who’s an avid user of resale platforms, mentions this was one of the reasons she decided to move forward with a closet sale of her own. “With Anna, we can be really specific that this is my sale, and I can pick that there’s a charity component,” Malinsky adds. “When you’re sending to a consignment store, I can’t say, ‘Okay, well, I’m sending you these 10 things, and please donate the money to gun control.’”

Ultimately, closet sales aren’t really about making bank. They’re about community: the people involved, the values they share, and the styles they bond over. “It was a nice way of doing two things at once: purging some things from my closet, and meeting some of my followers in person—which is a rare treat,” Anton Ross says. Gray agrees: “It’s really about friends showing up, hanging out, having a glass of wine or snack, and getting to meet people who really like your style,” she says. “I see it as one of the many options to keep your clothes in circularity. But definitely the most fun one.”