Pre-Loved Luxury Biz Gains Momentum

Offering a gateway to indulgence without a hefty price tag. India's pre-owned luxury market is catching the fancy of youth.

- VINITA MAKHIJA

FASHION’S MOST important night, The MET Gala wrapped up in May. In a first, the most impactful looks came from vintage resellers. Star of the Dune franchise Zendaya, whose first change, an elaborate rococo inspired black costume, was vintage Givenchy by John Galliano from 1996. It was facilitated by, and bought from Lily et Cie, a vintage luxury resale outlet in Beverly Hills. Her stylist and image architect Law Roach shared they didn’t rent or source the look for the event, but instead bought it. That decision was to maintain an important look as a part of their own collection, and to “support small businesses,” said Roach.

Roach had also previously shared on a podcast that he is a long-time collector of vintage luxury pieces. Once Zendaya was signed on to Louis Vuitton as a brand ambassador, he started dressing her in archival, pre-loved luxury pieces from LV’s previous creative directors as well. In a larger sense, this clever way of using pre-loved fashion also opens up larger conversations on how a brand’s ambassador can represent the house in more ways than one.

Back home, at the opening of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in 2023, designers, most prominently Indian couture kings Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, opened up their archives to A listers, not a normal practice for Indian stylists or celebrities.

As it turns out, right now, once is definitely not enough when it comes to luxury and couture. Prominent websites such as Saritoria, Confidential Couture, Rebag, Luxepolis, Revivify, Relove and many others popped up around Covid when conversations on how wasteful fashion was at its peak. In fact, after Miley Cyrus wore a vintage Bob Mackie dress for the Grammys, The California-based luxury resale website RealReal saw a 150% increase in searches for the designer, according to a report by Vogue Business.