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By Brooke Bobb
The global pandemic has had a devastating effect on the fashion industry. Retailers such as Jeffrey and Opening Ceremony have closed; retail branches such as Neiman Marcus filed for bankruptcy; factories have closed or stopped production in countries such as Bangladesh, cancelling orders for goods for billions of dollars; and online sales fell especially in April and May. But a sector of the fashion economy has controlled itself to stay afloat and even, in many cases, thrive.
According to ThredUp’s 2020 “resale report,” the retail sector as a total is expected to decline by 28% this year, while shipments and second-hand parts are expected to increase by 27%. Clearly it’s a booming market, but as resale and shipping continue to gain customers, how will the other platforms differentiate from each other? Moreover, can these sites attract the growing number of buyers who need to feel a genuine human connection to the parts they buy and the sea of old products they are for?
Lauren Wilson has been thinking about this for a long time. After running into the commercial progression of Moda Operandi and reveling in team visitors, she created her own resale site because she felt that there were very few old recordings and resources that provided a well-organized and considered product collection on an aesthetic platform. Last year, Wilson introduced Dora Maar, named after the French surrealist artist, providing shipments of old and existing brands such as Chloé, Saint Laurent, Chanel and many others. Wilson and his team presented a prepaid delivery and then the pieces were photographed in Dora Maar’s mannequins and “muses” as the Sahirah Abdur style and attorney Natalie Steen.
Amid the global pandemic and the social justice movement, Wilson has focused on networking and storytelling. She thinks “social luxury” is the new frontier of fashion, which means that consumers must attach to human history the garments they buy, especially if those garments are old and worn. On Dora Maar’s online page and through social media, visitors can be more informed about the company’s “muses” as sellers and women, creating deeper and more meaningful stories around the site’s articles.
Here, Wilson stores his theory in this very private resale model.
Tell me a little about Moda Operandi to Dora Maar. Why did you feel that this type of resale platform was missing in the e-commerce space?
The reason that we are so drawn to fashion, particularly luxury fashion, is the breadth and depth of the stories behind the brands, designers, and creative teams who make up the industry, and by extension, the women who wear their pieces. Platforms like Moda Operandi have done a fantastic job at highlighting this—from allowing consumers to shop full collections right after they appear on the runway, to championing emerging designers.
I felt that the used pieces contained the richest story of all, but I wasn’t convinced that this story was being told to consumers on existing platforms. I earned a master’s degree in a dress studies from New York University in 2016, where we analyzed and studied how human delight extends into the garments we wear. With Dora Maar, I sought to create a platform that would celebrate the strength of this tale and the taste of the women who owned those pieces.
The backbone of fashion is people, and for Dora Maar, they are our muses. Then I sought to move away from the commodification of the luxury used in the resale market. The pleasure of luxury recording very transactional. Once an item arrives on the market second hand, the pleasure first hand disappears with it and I sought to replace it. When an item leaves the original retailer, that’s where the story begins.
Explain the recent replacement you made with the brand. Why did he need it particularly in storytelling, rather than a classic luxury resale model to buy groceries?
The fashion industry has been at a turning point for some time, but with the COVID-19 and the recent highest fight for racial equality, the adjustments that were already ready have spread. Actively encouraging consumers to share and share their logo has become crucial. The relationship between luxury logos and consumers has long felt very one-sided and homogeneous. For Dora Maar, our platform project has relied firmly on our muses and their wardrobes, and brings them together with our community, and we have theirs.
But while we are a platform for luxury recordings, I see clothing as a way to tell the varied set of reports and stories that our muses and our giant network will have to share: perpetuating this circular economy of fashion celebrating the sustainability of taste and history. . The last six months have shown me this: this human bond, in any form, is essential. I created Dora Maar to be a traditional platform at all levels, and that means other people first. Women are the garments that have the strength of history, and with stories come conversation, replacement and transformation. We are very happy to continue to expand this.
Why is resale style a booming market right now? Do you think this will have a lasting effect on the industry as a whole?
Absolutely. There has already been such a de-stigmatization around shopping secondhand, and I can see it growing even more in light of this year. For the past six months, we have learned to understand what is truly essential to us, especially when it comes to luxury. It is important to me that Dora Maar represents intentionality in shopping. Each and every piece on our site holds a life that was lived, and I think that the more consumers are educated on this, the more they will feel a personal connection to pre-owned pieces. The more personalized the experience is, the more second nature shopping consignment will feel, and thus so will shopping sustainably.
How do you think consumers will profile luxury and in the near future? Will it replace grocery buying behavior and will others continue to draw on more non-public grocery shopping experiences?
Luxury comes down to a balance. Fashion has been governed by key players for so long: everything from trends to execution methods has filtered through a rain effect. However, over the past six months, the game’s regulations have been leveled in a way we’ve never noticed before. We can all communicate, unite and paint in one way: virtually. So it’ll be nice to see how that goes, because we’re still in the middle of a pandemic.
You’ll have those heritage marks whose call and history are so strong and will remain influential. However, I believe that new players and new retail models, such as resale and leasing, have the genuine strength to shape the next generation. Two things stand out to me in this new luxury wave, and that’s the networking club and the sharing economy. I started calling it “social luxury.” By selling each other, we also announce a more conscious, intentional and sustainable future. It all comes down to a human connection, in any form. That’s why we introduce Dora Maar, to take a look at the humanization of luxury shopping.
As a bi-racial woman, what have been some of the demanding situations you have faced in your career in the fashion industry? What have these demanding situations taught you in terms of starting your own luxury fashion business?
As a bi-a-law black woman, I learned that my delight and history can motivate conversation and change. I’m not sure I’ve learned it by developing. My father is black, my mother is Puerto Rican and white, and having grown up in Scottsdale, Arizona, and then running in luxury fashion, there were very few examples of women like me or others like me, either on the pages of fashion magazines. and within the groups I worked on.
I was raised in a space that taught me to have thick skin, to hold my head above and to put one foot in front of the other. So expressing my delight as a bi-racial black woman was not something I talked about. There have been times in my career in luxury fashion where I’ve been told things like, “I don’t know if I see you running here” or “The women who paint here come from a safe environment.” At the time, I did not need such discrimination to exist in the 21st century. So, instead of talking, I painted tirelessly to adapt a mold that I was told was working in the industry, but that I didn’t paint for myself personally. Even at the launch of Dora Maar, there were those who told me to focus only on using white models because my audience doesn’t need to see anything different.
For too long, I’ve been conditioned that being black in fashion is not what the customer was looking to see. The existing Black Lives Matter movement, and the conversations and leaders that come from it, have reminded me of the role I perform and how I can include replacement. This gave me the strength to use my voice in its entirety, and through powers, women and networked paintings surrounding Dora Maar. There are so many paints to be made in the industry, however, it is essential for me and my team that Dora Maar play a role in facilitating and implementing replacements for blacks in fashion.
One thing we’re hobbyate about is our new series of Instagram stories “Our Muses, Our Voices.” It was a real hobby for me. We take complicated fashion conversations at the forefront of our brand. It’s so vital that Dora Maar’s women are noticed and heard, I added. Right now, we’re focusing on black women in the fashion industry and attractiveness; more recently, we spoke to Zakiya Tomlinson, a veterinarian in the luxury industry (and former colleague of Gucci). Next week, we’re pleased to speak with Delanique Millwood, founder and CEO of the Skintellect skin care destination.
What classes informed you about the pandemic as an e-commerce start-up? How excited are you with the long term of your platform and the long term of the industry as a whole?
I’ll probably write an e-book about the classes I’ve learned in the last few months, probably all of them! But for me, what stands out is how important and integral the network is for Dora Maar. It refers to our muses, but also to those who interact with our logo on a daily basis. When COVID-19 first hit in New York in March, our team panicked. We have an idea of how to communicate about luxury at a time like this. A visitor bought us an item (a very elegant Helmut Lang midi dress) to help Citymeals on Wheels. He ended up posting his acquisition on his Instagram with the caption “What will I wear when I run out of pants.” We ended up making a six-week video series on this premise. Our muses, consumers, and other flavor makers in our network have informed everyone about how they stay quarantined and what they plan to use after the 40s, while highlighting the other small businesses they help. He created this network of small businesses helping other small businesses at a difficult time.
I am also really hopeful for the fashion industry on a macro level. You have incredible people stepping up and speaking out on how to make the industry more inclusive and sustainable, on all levels. People like Teen Vogue’s editor in chief Lindsay Peoples Wagner and PR entrepreneur Sandrine Charles, who started the Black in Fashion Council, are so inspiring for me, and for so many women of color in the industry. To see that diversity starting to seep into every aspect of fashion, instead of just a homogenous way of doing things, is something that should be celebrated.
For Dora Maar, we seek to be pioneers in understanding the luxury fashion and recommerce industry. Right now, we’re focusing on creating a diverse network of women who not only love fashion, but also need to share their reports with her and tell consumers that grocery shopping contributes not only to their closets, but also to a broader story.
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