Every awards season, stars are deluged with free goodies: Calvin Klein handbags, Gucci shades, Burberry scarves—many of which haven’t hit store shelves. What to do with it all? As it turns out, stars are just like us: They peddle unwanted wares on luxury resale sites like Poshmark, ThredUp, Depop, and TheRealReal. And in this new KonMarian age of austerity, imagine how many Balmain and Balenciaga pieces you’ll find online this year.
The bounty doesn’t come from just nominees. Instagram stars like the KarJenners shed their already-liked looks like sheepdogs in the spring (the clan has sold more than 500 pieces on TheRealReal, where Kylie off-loaded her prom dress). Top-drawer influencer and putative feminist Emily Ratajkowski has apparently cashed in dozens of times on the app Depop, from Saint Laurent pumps to a Diane von Furstenberg crossbody bag.
Before the rise of these e-tail sites, a celebrity (or, more likely, an assistant) would have to cart the items to a local consignment shop, where employees were often required to sign a nondisclosure agreement and keep quiet about the items’ provenance. But not everyone is discreet about their clientele. Cameron Silver, cofounder of high-end consignment boutique Decades, was helping celebs like Courtney Love, Rose McGowan, Winona Ryder, and Blake Lively clean out their closets long before Marie Kondo clamored onto the scene.
For VIPs who prefer anonymity, selling items on the internet is a way to make a few extra dollars while keeping it all on the DL. (After all, when you’re making millions off a movie, profiting off a discarded Swarovski satchel wouldn’t be a very good look.) But there are some A-listers who aren’t shy about cashing in on their used threads. A few have even gone so far as to hold and promote public sales, slating the proceeds for charity: Lena Dunham donated her haul to Planned Parenthood; Chloë Sevigny patted herself on the back for not contributing to an industrywide waste problem. Sure, that’s one way to spin it—and in the end, everyone hits the jackpot.
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