From Los Feliz to Paris - it made my day to see Alyson proudly wearing this 1991 Chanel jacket, and the life of my former consigner extended across the world as I sold her wardrobe via my new estate sale business - a business I created to sell the thousands of items she left behind never consigned with me.
Alyson said she would post it and tag me and indeed she is a woman of her word. Like ashes to the wind, her clothing is scattered around the world now helping her love of fashion remain in the Consciousness. As her widower said to me “you have such a romanticized view of these clothes and what you are doing.” To which I responded “She deserves it and it’s important to frame this for all of us.” Sometimes you find meaning when and where you were not looking.
There is nothing superficial about the core of the high-end vintage business … if only you take a moment to ponder and dwell on it. Is it only about what collection something came from? I think not. What’s behind each piece? What life did it live? What do we know about the person who wore it? What was so special about this piece that she held onto it all these years. I cried more than once during this process. One multi decades wardrobe later I think I know this woman well and how happy she would be to see this for herself. Part of me hopes she could see the celebration happening in the back of her house in front of an Amazon changing tent and fun house mirror as it was deemed!
Every day of the sale I learn a bit more about her, most struck by the elevation in her wardrobe over four decades reflecting her love of fashion and her want to be taken seriously as an attorney in the 70s 80s 90s and early 2000s in a male dominated field at a time when women did not have careers. Her suits of armor got stronger each decade transitioning from Jones New York to Brooks Brothers to finally Armani, Escada, and Chanel. All in bold colors as if to be taken seriously. And she was.
Jennie Walker.....
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