Archive designer clothing has been popular for some time, but more recently its cult following has exploded onto the mainstream. The coronavirus has only increased its popularity, and now many are choosing to buy the oftentimes (though not always) cheaper and better made garments of the past, over this season’s hottest trend.
Although Grailed and Depop are still major selling platforms for archivists, it was only a matter of time before the market permeated Instagram to take advantage of the decidedly greater exposure, and more versatile platform. This has resulted in some incredibly unique and compelling Instagram shops, that not only offer clothing, but education on fashion history and culture as well.
Despite the fact that none of the shops mentioned are designing any garments of their own, each feels very different. These shops don’t just sell clothes, but rather, curate garments and content to fit within the aesthetic niche they’ve moulded for themselves.
Silver League @silverleague
Silver League is based in Los Angeles and specializes in Avant Garde archive clothing. Brands like Carol Christian Poell, Ann Demeulemeester, and Rick Owens are commonplace at Silver League. Most of the garments sold are neutral toned with an emphasis on very good design, as well as interesting shapes and silhouettes. Although some of the clothes fetch crazy prices, many are very affordable within the context of luxury, and could even be considered a steal. Along with their almost daily product posts, they also provide educational content on key cultural moments and many of the designers they stock.
Arco Maher @arco_maher
Arco Maher archive is a London based shop that sells exclusively archive Stone Island. They specialize in rare and vibrant coloured knits and overshirts, in a variety of technical and traditional fabrics. They carry Stone Island from a range of years, but tend to focus mostly on the 90’s and early 2000’s, a golden era for many designers, Stone Island included.
They are most famous though, for their outerwear, which has been seen on various celebrities over the past couple of years. Drake is a known customer of Arco Maher, and along with being one of the main contributors to the Stone Island craze over the past couple years, has been seen on numerous occasions wearing rare clothing from the store. Although I’m not the biggest Stone Island fan, I love their down puffer coats and the selection that Arco Maher has is insane.
Endyma @Endyma
Endyma is based in Athens, and is famously known for housing the world’s largest collection of archive Helmut Lang. In recent years, archive Helmut Lang, or more specifically, Helmut Lang between the years of 1986-2005, (prior to Helmut leaving his house) has developed a cult following, as many have begun to appreciate the enormous impact he had on fashion in the 90’s.
Apart from Helmut Lang, Endyma also stocks brands such as Raf Simons, Miu Miu men’s and Burberry, all archive of course. Endyma’s Instagram account acts as a shop as well as an educational resource, as they offer in-depth garment analysis as new pieces come into the shop, which is almost daily. They break down the construction of the clothes and often times the shows that the clothes were presented in, to provide the reader with context as far as references go.
In a move that cemented archives’ position in the modern retail landscape, Endyma recently announced a collaboration with the British retailer Selfridges, where they would offer a selection of their Helmut Lang collection for sale on the retail giants’ website. Prior to it selling out on the Selfridges site, they had one of my all-time favourite pieces, the Helmut Lang AW2003 bondage bomber jacket, which as I’m sure you can imagine, was listed for an incredibly reasonable price.
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