It’s already been a bumper awards season for vintage on the red carpet, from Olivia Rodrigo in ’90s Versace at the Grammy Awards to Laverne Cox in ’80s Mugler at the Emmys. But we’ve also seen an increasing number of archival recreations on the red carpet, including Carey Mulligan’s 1949 Schiaparelli gown at the Golden Globes and Margot Robbie’s dazzling Vivienne Westwood gown, based on a spring/summer 1998 design, at the AACTA Awards.
Read more: Met Gala 2024 Red Carpet
Clearly, these red-carpet remakes are a reflection of the growing interest in vintage in recent years. But isn’t creating something new, instead of wearing something that already exists, defeating the whole point? “It’s taking the exciting nature of a vintage reference, but still creating excess that didn’t exist before,” Alexis Novak, founder of Tab Vintage, tells Vogue.
Aside from the sustainability credentials of vintage, part of the thrill is hunting down those ultra-rare pieces of fashion history. “Vintage dealers and archivists spend so much time, energy and money tracking down these pieces,” Novak continues. “When the larger brands just recreate old designs, it makes it more difficult for us to stay in business as we can’t compete with the huge houses.”
Of course, there are a number of reasons why wearing the original piece might not be possible, including the fragility of some of these archival pieces. The theme of this year’s Met Gala and the Costume Institute’s annual exhibition is Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, in reference to historic pieces that are too delicate to be worn again. One such “sleeping beauty” is Dior’s “Junon” dress from autumn/winter 1949 – a recreation of which was worn by Natalie Portman at Cannes Film Festival last year. “The most important Dior designs are in archives and museums, exhibited with huge global success,” notes Marie Blanchet, founder of Mon Vintage. It makes business sense, then, for Dior to capitalise on that history. “Fashion houses are drawing on the past and embracing their heritage more than ever before,” she adds.
It’s worth remembering that Kim Kardashian faced a backlash after wearing the original Jean Louis gown that Marilyn Monroe wore when serenading John F Kennedy with “Happy Birthday, Mr President” in 1962 to the 2022 Met Gala. “I think that preservation of the garment is always the priority when it comes to archival fashion,” Brynn Jones, founder of Aralda Vintage, says. “There are some pieces that are meant to be kept in a museum and are too precious and delicate to be worn out and about today. I think [a remake] can be a nice alternative to wearing something off the runway, and an ode to history can be almost as magical if done right.”
Another factor is sizing: given that many archival pieces tend to be sample size (particularly those kept in a fashion house’s own archives), those true vintage gowns may be out of reach for many. “When you consider sizing and the need for tailoring, it just makes the chances of it working out even more slim,” Jones continues.
Still, when a major vintage look is matched to the perfect celebrity – think Zendaya in Thierry Mugler’s robot suit from autumn/winter 1995 during the Dune: Part Two press tour or Bella Hadid in Tom Ford for Gucci at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival – there’s nothing quite like the original. “When someone wears a recreation, it doesn’t have the same heart-stopping effect as it does when someone wears a piece of history,” Jones concludes.
