Ahead of the Vogue Vintage Sale on 29 March, co-hosted by Jorja Smith and Iris Law and presented by eBay, Vogue is celebrating all things pre-loved. Not all vintage treasures are rare designer pieces loaded with fashion lore: from a perfectly worn leather jacket uncovered in a thrift store to a slogan tee sourced online, pre-loved items can (and should) be a key player in every modern wardrobe.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of all the storied pieces lining the rails of the Vogue Vintage Sale this weekend: a legendary Gucci jacket that has also been in Victoria Beckham’s wardobe for 25 years; a Seán McGirr-donated, double-breasted blazer from the English National Opera’s production of Damnation in 2011; and the custom Burberry look worn by Bella Ramsey on the April cover of British Vogue. And yet who better to speak on a gold lace Dolce & Gabbana dress that once belonged to Penelope Tree than the legendary supermodel herself? “I often think about the ghosts inside second-hand clothes, which can sometimes be… off-putting,” she says. “But this dress came from a happy place. I don’t care who ends up buying this, so long as they have as much fun with it as I did.”
Tree has a unique relationship with vintage. Having moved from New York to SW10 in 1967 – a whirlwind of Vidal Sassoon haircuts, Mary Quant make-up and Beatlemania – the then publishing assistant discovered a second home in the rabbit-warren corridors of the Chelsea Antique Market. “Couture dresses in mint condition, from Schiaparelli and Poiret, hung alongside sequined tops à la Josephine Baker, exquisitely beaded boleros and delicate chiffon dresses from the 1930s,” Tree recalled in this month’s British Vogue, adding that ’50s Dior dresses would often be sold for a mere five pounds. “Consequently, out of all the pieces I bought from the Chelsea Market, I’ve only managed to hold onto one single intricately embroidered Romanian shirt, which I still wear every summer.”
She hopes the Dolce & Gabbana number – first worn to the opening of The Eye Has to Travel, Lisa Immordino Vreeland’s documentary about her grandmother-in-law, Diana Vreeland, the former editor-in-chief of American Vogue – will have just as healthy an afterlife. “The year was 2012 and I remember feeling really excited about this film, because Lisa is a great friend of mine. I wanted to wear something special for it, and, well, that was it. It was the dress that fit the mood! Fresh, youthful – it would still look good today.” There is no doubt that Vreeland (a woman who once suggested the readers of Harper’s Bazaar should rinse their blonde children’s hair in dead champagne to keep it gold) would approve. “It’s a little dressier than the clothes I normally wear. But doesn’t that feel good?”
On the subject that premiere – and the subsequent after-party, where Yasmin Le Bon, Manolo Blahnik and Tallulah Harlech clinked glasses at The Dorchester – Tree adds: “It was a great evening, but, to be honest, I don’t really remember much of it. Hmm, who did I speak to? Oh, Rosamund Pike! She was beautiful. Isn’t it awful that I can’t tell you anything else about what happened?” Quite the opposite: a hazy memory is surely the sign of an evening well spent. “What I will say is: there are clothes I haven’t had such a good time in and I just can’t wear them again. But not this one. And the best thing is that it will be worn differently, renewed,” Tree concludes. “That’s the spirit of the moment. Don’t overconsume, make sure that everything you buy is loved, and can, above all, stand the test of time.”
