Over 300 pieces of rare Margiela, Balenciaga, Helmut Lang and Raf will be up for grabs
From tomorrow, vintage obsessives can get their mitts on rare pieces of Margiela, Helmut Lang and Raf Simons. Opening Ceremony has teamed up with Byronesque – Gill Linton’s app that links fashion vultures to vintage wares from the biggest designers – for “Oporning Ceremony”, the second #FashionPorn pop-up after Byronesque held a similar event in Paris. Over 300 pieces will be for sale, including rare Helmut Lang, Raf Simons and Balenciaga.
The OC flagship in New York will also have a secret room dedicated to only Margiela, featuring pieces from 90s/00s runway collections. Adam Thorpe and Joe Hunter’s cult label Vexed Generation, long regarded as Britain’s answer to Helmut Lang, is opening their archives for the first time. As part of the sale, certain pieces will be dropping throughout the pop-up’s run: various Balenciaga pieces designed by Nicolas Ghesquière (1997-2012); Helmut Lang’s horse hair sandals (2004); Raf Simons’ New Order / Peter Saville parka (AW2003-04); and Raf Simons’ plastic poncho (AW2002-03).
Special Margiela items include: semi Couture apron (SS1997); semi Couture vest with shoulder pads (SS1997); duvet coat (AW1999-00); glove top (SS2001); and L’Incognito sunglasses (SS2008). Regardless of whether or not you’ve got the cash, these items will be a treat for anyone to clutch to their bosom in real life.
“This is perhaps the best collection we’ve ever had,” says Gill Linton, CEO and editor-in-chief of Byronesque. “The 90s was the last time fashion was at its most creative and, while that’s starting to change, we still think it’s essential to uphold the creative defiance of these important vintage designers and the culture they created. When I met Humberto (Leon, cofounder of Opening Ceremony), I knew we’d found our spirit animal.”
Why did you choose to do another pop-up?
Gill Linton: Really because people asked us to. There was a lot of love for the Paris sale, and not just the clothes. We got so many requests to do another one and then I got an email from Humberto, and here we are. The collection we have put together for Opening Ceremony is the best we’ve ever had. All greatest hits, no filler tracks. We nicknamed the Margiela sale, which is separate from the Fashion Porn event, the Mark Borthwick collection – if he shot it, we have it. Shopping our pop-ups is like meeting your fashion idols, there’s something very visceral about seeing and touching the pieces we all want and share on Instagram. People who love early Raf and Lang, for example, will be excited to see some of their major pieces on the racks. But unlike at a museum, you get to take them home.
After having come across so many rare pieces, which designers’ clothes are best made?
Gill Linton: Margiela pieces were really well made and tend to stand the test of time better than some of his peers. But that doesn’t affect demand because people buy into the significance of what these collections lead to as much as what they represented. In fact a lot of these collections weren’t instant hits and didn’t necessarily sell at the time. It’s only looking back that people now attribute importance and influence to them – some seasons more than others. (For example, if anyone has Ghesquière’s Balenciaga SS2002 dresses, please email ownit@byronesque.com.)
Which piece have you not been able to get your hands on?
Gill Linton: Ghesquière’s Balenciaga SS2002 dresses. We have found and sold one that was the prototype for Kate Moss and that piece was very expensive – to give you a sense of demand.
What do you hope to accomplish with the pop-up?
Gill Linton: We’re launching menswear for the first time, including rare pieces by Vexed Generation, who ruled London in the 90s. We’re particularly excited to resurrect their infamous ninja hoodie. I have fond memories of living in it. We also want to sell a lot of clothes. We’re not interested in vintage being treated with kid gloves or locked away in a closet. We want people to love it and rock it, because no one else has it.
Byronesque’s #FashionPorn pop-up runs from July 8-23 at Opening Ceremony in New York