My favorite kind of vintage purchase is one that comes with a rich history. Take the Zac Posen dress I found at last year’s Vogue Vintage Market, worn by Laura Love to her prom in the late aughts, when Posen himself was still a fledgling designer. Or the copper belt my grandmother wore to her wedding brunch in 1953, cinched over a white lace dress, as was the fashion at the time. Then, there’s the 1980s Bill Blass gown I thrifted that I later discovered had once swept up the steps of the Met Gala on Pat Buckley in 1995—back when she was hosting the evening. These are the pieces that stay with me, and they are why Natalie Bloomingdale and myself are relaunching The SIL on March 3. Short for Stuff I Love, The SIL is a vintage site that highlights the women, and the stories, behind their iconic wardrobes.
We’re currently in a thrilling moment for vintage. The resale market isn’t just booming—it’s reshaping how we shop. According to McKinsey’s most recent State of Fashion report, secondhand and resale are projected to grow two to three times faster than the broader global apparel market in the coming years.
The internet has made finding coveted pieces easier than ever, too. We can source archival Prada or a ’90s Helmut Lang blazer from our phones at midnight. But as the market has become more abundant, something subtle has shifted. Descriptions have grown shorter. A dress is just a SKU. A coat is now a thumbnail, dislocated from any unique backstory. The online vintage shopping process has lost its former charm. That’s where we want to come in.
Natalie first launched The SIL in 2017 as a destination for hard-to-find independent pieces she personally sourced. More recently, she built a devoted following selling vintage furs on Instagram—one-of-one pieces that appeared, were snapped up, and moved on to their next chapter. Her audience embraced that rhythm of discovery; to date, she’s rehoused more than 3,000 coats and counting.
With The SIL’s relaunch, we’re working together to bring character back to vintage shopping. We’re opening up the closets of some of today’s most stylish women, allowing customers to shop directly from their personal collections. Structured as a series of online trunk shows, each Closet Feature will run for a set period before rotating to the next. We’re essentially focusing our merchandising philosophy on the stuff they love (but are ready to part with) and passing along their memories to the next person.
Each person fills out an in-depth questionnaire—part oral history, part memory exercise. We ask what was happening in their life when they wore the piece, whether anyone photographed them in it, whether they remember the weather, the music, the company. We interview, we fact-check, we go down rabbit holes. It’s detective work, yes, but it’s also a lost art of storytelling.
A 1960s Carola vintage maxidress from the closet of Natalie Steen.Courtesy of Natalie Steen
A 2010s Weill brocade jacket from the closet of Bunny Williams.Photo: Courtesy of Bunny Williams
