It’s no secret that the trillion-dollar fashion industry is comprised of countless positions and endless duties; but one of the lesser-known jobs in this field is perhaps one of the most important. We’re talking about vintage specialists.
In a recent piece by the Independent, reporter Trey Taylor explores the undercover world of vintage sourcing—an area where experts scour looks and images from the past to provide inspiration for the designers of today.
"We joke that we're the dirty secret of the fashion world," Doug Gunn told the Independent. “We have good relationships with designers. We don't just sell vintage. We also do a lot of visual research for people."
Gunn is the co-founder of The Vintage Showroom in England, which houses thousands upon thousands of vintage pieces from all over the world. It’s an impressive collection, to say the least; but what’s more impressive is Gunn’s ability to keep his operations so secretive.
You see, you can’t have a collection without some sort of inspiration, which is why so many designers protect their sources as if they’re their only children. Gunn, and people like David Casavant, do more than simply seek out vintage clothing; they’re hired by designers to find rare pieces from the past—those that have unique construction as well as unusual fabrics. The designers then take those looks and reinterpret them for today’s taste.
"If people have an idea of what they're looking for but they don't know exactly what material would be available, they'll often ask and I'll go away and find out what exists, whether it's been seen before by anybody else," November Books owner Paul Lawrence told the Independent. "Everybody is looking for things that are difficult to find."
That hunt is so important that designers are willing to pay big bucks for the service.
Casavant told the publication he makes a pretty good living off of his vintage Raf Simons and Helmut Lang collection. He says he lends out pieces on a weekly basis, charging anywhere between $40 to $1,000 per item; however, he insists his rates are much more reasonable than his competitors.
