“I have a vivid memory of being with my mom in downtown Manhattan at the age of six or seven, and I saw a woman wearing a full length, red, Mongolian, curly fur coat with a hood,” Gabriel Held sets the scene for his tale. He’s sitting before me in an Emilio Pucci x Supreme silk set, a glass of prosecco in hand. “I turned to my mother and said, ‘Mom, dress me in the styles of the nineties.’ And she said, ‘Well, Gabriel, that's really more of a sixties kind of look, but point taken,’” he laughs. The archivist has always had this sort of directional inclination when it comes to collecting. We’re sitting in his Williamsburg archive that houses upwards of 2,000 pieces and curly Mongolian fur unsurprisingly takes up a fair amount of real estate as do his other cultivated interests, namely early aughts logo mania (of both the bootleg and designer varieties), an obvious reverence for the same era’s hip hop icons, and “all the Italian, lovely trash,” as he describes ‘90s Versace, Emilio Pucci, Moschino, and Roberto Cavalli. “I've always said that to me, vintage is actually more elite than anything current season,” he explains. “If you can afford it, you can buy anything current season. You have to have skills and resources in order to do a vintage look.”
Venture deeper inside Held’s Williamsburg archive and you’re met with racks upon racks of loud prints, glittering rhinestones, and blaring logos. In addition to the aforementioned brands, he collects Christian Lacroix, Blumarine, Jean Paul Galtier—are you getting the picture? “I like Prada too, but honestly it's a little highbrow for me sometimes.” One of his earliest finds is displayed like a sculpture: Converse covered in a (bootleg) Gucci logo print, which he had made for himself as a high school graduation gift. In our current seating area, real Versace pillows perch near a fake Versace tablecloth. It’s this notion of high camp, low luxury that inspires his collection—and its loyal patrons. Held supplies his treasures, predominantly by rental, to those with kindred sartorial spirits, specifically celebrity and editorial stylists. In some cases, he swaps the title archivist for stylist as he extends his own creative ideas to the subject at hand. (His mental moodboarding process you can follow along with on Instagram.)
Held is responsible for the (reworked) Betsey Johnson top for Rihanna’s Wild Thoughts music video. He consulted on Remy Ma’s “leaving jail" look. “I finally got Beyoncé after all these years,” he boasts. “Well, she wore my jewelry.” His client roster extends much further than that. ”I consider them clients if they pull. Whether they wear or not is none of my business,” he notes, “but I prefer it if they do. And if there are pictures.” From supplying to styling, the archivist has worked with the aforementioned icons in addition to Nicki Minaj, Celine Dion, all the Kardashians, the Jenners minus Kendall, Ariana Grande, Cardi B, both Hadid sisters, Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, Rosalía, and more. A polaroid “wall of fame” pays tribute to those guests who have taken the time to pay him an in-person visit versus simply sending their stylist (Held’s preferred manner of working).
The storage facility itself sets the scene for Held’s own creative origin story. This is where he grew up (and where he now lives and works free of charge as his mother still owns it). Born to a family of artists, Held describes himself as a sort of failed nepo baby, at least in the art world. But the easter eggs of his future career were present even in childhood. The budding vintage connoisseur used to take his $20 weekly allowance to Domsey’s, a by-the-pound thrift store across the street, dig for consigned treasure, then mark it up and sell it to the girls at school. (Held attended the Upper East Side school where Gossip Girl was partially filmed.) From there, his sourcing skills blossomed. “I had this impulse to buy things that were great even if I couldn't wear them,” he explains. “And I always had a skill for sourcing things above my means without actually going into debt, the knowledge to find these things at some place like a Salvation Army or a Goodwill—and the patience.” His stylist friends began to borrow things from him and never stopped. “I did realize at a certain point I had acquired an amount that would make me a hoarder if I didn't turn it into a business,” he laughs. “It is kind of clever.” Tour Held’s archive below.
“I do have this supreme privilege of coming from a visual family, so the eye-training started long before the fashion enthusiasm. I grew up in galleries and museums. I was being dragged to every Renaissance church in Italy—even when you're not paying close attention, it still kind of permeates. And around the time I got into fashion, I also got into photography and was a self-proclaimed child prodigy.”
“I think I used to try to pass for not being ‘poor,’ and logos were a great way to do that, whether they're real or fake.”
“In the late nineties, I was inspired a lot by different kinds of subculture—Riot Grrrls and Courtney Love kind of stuff—also from television—The Nanny, Absolutely Fabulous. Parker Posey was always a style icon. I was hanging out with trans icons at Patricia Field, shopping all the time. All these icons of poor taste. I'm a person that craves knowledge, so I guess I never set out with the intention to educate myself, but through my desire to know stuff, it happened.”
“When I reconnected with my childhood friend, Lena Dunham, she asked me to source all of this vintage Todd Oldham, one of the crown jewels of my archive, for all these press appearances after the series Girls ended. And honestly, working for HBO and Dunham gave me a little bit of the capital that I needed to actually invest in this business. (The only way that this business has been invested in by anybody other than me is the fact that my mother lets me use this space rent-free.)”
“When working with people who are not models, I definitely take into account their personal point of view. I am not the type who will ever push a client to wear something they don't want to wear. I feel like it's just bad manners and it doesn't really look good either.”
“There's a woman who I call my mentor—I never really assisted her or anything, but we have worked together (and she does claim me as her son)—named Misa Hylton, the creator of Lil’ Kim’s iconic aesthetic. Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliot—she's the original baddie. I had always admired Lil’ Kim's style, but I wasn't aware of the machine behind it. I started researching her more. I started posting things and tagging her. We started talking and she came here around nine years ago when it was a much more meager collection—maybe four racks, a couple of accessories. I learned from Fran Drescher's memoirs, never leave a meeting without saying, ‘What's the next step?’ So as I was walking her to the door, I was like, ‘I hope we have an opportunity to work together.’ She could tell I was anxious and she said, ‘Calm down. I see you. And when I see you, I see you.’ It's hard to translate that into text, but you understand what I'm saying. I actually attribute that interaction to giving me some of the confidence to actually give this a shot as a business.”
“In terms of creative and art direction, I have a couple of tactics that I use. I will think, Who do they remind me of? Who are they giving me? And I’ll treat it like an assignment. So here's an example: Jojo [Levesque]. I was looking at her and I was like, ‘Okay, she reminds me a little bit of Wonder Woman, Linda Carter, and a little bit of Helena Christensen. So maybe we can pull these two references and try to make something new out of the mix.’ So that’s my jumping off point. And then I have about 70,000 photos on my phone. We'll just kind of go through and piece together what I think is a good representation of that idea.”
“When I was thrifting and selling things in high school—which was kind of unheard of, at least in this New York City private school world where I was such an outsider—there were definitely people who were disgusted by the idea of secondhand clothes. There are even clients of mine that I feel like 10, 15 years ago, would've turned their noses up at the idea of wearing something somebody wore before. The cultural currency of vintage has risen; now, it's a status symbol. I've always said that vintage is actually more elite than anything current season. If you can afford it, you can buy anything current season. You have to have skills and resources in order to do a vintage look.”
“I am an archivist and a curator, not just of clothing, but also of imagery. My Instagram is pretty curated. And it's something that I used to do. Even in fifth grade, I would carry around this little purse that was a Backgammon briefcase with clippings from Delia’s catalogs and Vogue. I would lay them out in a primitive version of Instagram on the table.”
“There are people who buy three Champion sweatshirts from Goodwill and call that an archive. And I'm not trying to be condescending, but there is a skill to curating an archive. It's not just buying mom jeans in bulk for me. To some maybe, but not to me. “
“I had the benefit of growing up across the street from a four-story thrift store with a by-the-pound warehouse connected to it, called Domsey’s. I found great seventies vintage there, like a Dolly Parton glitter photo-print shirt of her laying on a bale of hay. One day I found a wall of Louis Vuitton bags for $3.50 apiece. I got an advance on my $20/week allowance, bought them all, marked them up, sold them to the girls at school, took the profit, and invested in more product. I was doing what I do now with no real intention.”
“I do have things that are not archival now (but one day they will be) from places not regarded as high fashion. But that accessible fashion piece might be something 15, 20 years later. Look at the girlies on Depop selling things that were once pretty accessible at the time. So I do have the long game in mind. I don't anticipate stopping doing this.”
“Bella [Hadid] is somebody who, when she wears a referential vintage look, I know that she has done her homework. She knows her references, she loves fashion, and she loves models and modeling. When I see her in an archive piece, I typically consider her part of the process and respect it. The same goes for Zendaya. Law [Roach] and Zendaya have this beautiful partnership where he really birthed her as a style icon. They've been working together since she was so young, but she actually came here herself with him and security. (I appreciate when people take the time to come.)”
“I started sourcing in thrift stores. I lived off of Beacon's Closet for many, many years. I started selling there when I was probably 13. I still have pieces from there in this archive. But at my current age and position, I don't have the physical endurance to do three hours going through every piece in a Goodwill to find maybe one or two pieces. I just do the typical places you would do for reselling clothing, really. Mainly online. I am open to looking anywhere really.”
“So in terms of designers, there's plenty of Dior, although I have stopped sourcing Galliano because I do feel it behooves me to keep the same energy I'm keeping for Kanye for John Galliano. And granted, John Galliano was an isolated incident of anti-Semitism, and he did actually repent and apologize, but for me, if I'm going to be vocal about [not supporting] Kanye, I feel like I shouldn't pick and choose. That being said, I'm not getting rid of any of my Dior. And I no longer source Dolce and Gabbana, but I'm also not getting rid of any of it. I am also hesitant to ever use it in a shoot and give them on-page credit because I don't agree with them. But I [collect] Gaultier, Christian Lacroix, all the Italian, lovely trash—Versace, Moschino, Pucci, Cavalli. I like Prada too, but honestly it's a little highbrow for me sometimes. Blumarine I love and I'm glad that they're having a resurgence.”
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