From Sabrina Carpenter’s vintage pop-up to Haley Wollens’ The RealReal sale and Diane von Furstenberg’s archive relaunch, celebrities are redefining resale as fashion’s new luxury frontier.
When fans line up outside a pop-up this fall, it may not be for a sneaker drop or a beauty collab — it’ll be to shop someone’s (famous) closet. The celebrity resale boom has moved from back-of-warehouse sample sales to fully produced experiences, often complete with custom embroidery, photo ops, and personal archives that blur the line between fashion history and fandom.
Sabrina Carpenter’s Sabrina’s Secondhand pop-up, created in partnership with Cash App, is the latest example of how pre-loved fashion is being reframed as both collectible and cultural. Through October 29th, Ideal Glass Studios in New York’s Greenwich Village will host a free-admission, vintage-forward space featuring racks curated by Garage Sale Vintage, a “wall of fits” collage where fans can leave Polaroid snapshots, and a custom embroidery bar for tailoring thrifted finds.
Cash App cardholders get extra perks: a thirty percent discount on select merchandise, entry into vintage raffles, and collectible patches designed around Carpenter’s aesthetic. After New York, the event will travel to Nashville and Los Angeles, cementing its hybrid identity as part pop-up, part traveling thrift shop.
The star power behind secondhand
Carpenter isn’t new to vintage. At this year’s MTV VMAs, she wore an archival Bob Mackie bodysuit originally designed for Cher and Tina Turner in 1975 — a look that was pulled directly from the Mackie archive. That single outfit — mirrored disks, halter neckline, and streaming ribbons — became a metaphor for how contemporary stars are reviving and re-owning fashion’s past.
Haley Wollens, stylist and editor-in-chief of Myth, took a similar approach when she curated a designer closet sale for The RealReal featuring pieces from Chloë Sevigny, Julianne Moore, and Parker Posey. “It became sort of notorious,” Wollens told Vanity Fair. “We’d have lines around the block.”
Among the items: Maison Margiela boots, a Comme des Garçons blouse, and a black Alaïa skirt once owned by Sevigny. Proceeds went to the Harlem-based nonprofit We Do It Too. The project underscores the shift from one-off celebrity donations to structured, cause-driven resale events that mirror brand activations.
The future of shopping is personal. Liana Satenstein, journalist and founder of Shopping with Friends, told Harper’s Bazaar, “These [sellers] are real fashion lovers. They’re not just people who are buying things willy-nilly. They wear their clothes. They know their history. They love their designers.”
Diane von Furstenberg, whose wrap dresses defined 1970s style, also recently launched DVF Vintage, a resale program that draws from her personal archive and the wardrobes of long-time fans. “Everyone’s getting very excited about vintage, but my dresses have always been hot,” Furstenberg told Interview Magazine. “For me, I am vintage, so what do you want me to say?”
The initiative includes a physical component at her New York City’s Meatpacking District flagship, where customers can consign pre-loved DVF pieces for store credit and browse rotating archive selections. It’s part of a larger move among luxury designers to reassert control over their resale markets while meeting growing consumer demand for authenticated vintage.
Why it matters for shoppers
Secondhand is no longer the subculture of dusty thrift bins. It’s a $56 billion U.S. industry projected to grow another 14 percent this year, according to Capital One Shopping. Globally, ThredUp forecasts the resale market to hit $367 billion by 2029, expanding five times faster than traditional retail.
Brands and celebrities are responding. According to Business of Fashion, hyped closet sales by celebrities, influencers, stylists, and content creators have become “increasingly popular,” blending star power with sustainability.
Nicole Richie, who recently became an ambassador for the luxury recommerce site Fashionphile, told People that her family maintains “a real easy back-and-forth” closet-sharing policy. Asked what she borrows most, Richie said: “Black ’80s Chanel bags.” Her stance reflects how secondhand has become normalized even among those with access to anything new.
That sentiment extends to younger consumers. Gen Z now drives much of the secondhand boom: 83 percent of Gen Z shoppers say they have purchased or are open to purchasing pre-owned apparel. For this group, sustainability, affordability, and individuality overlap.
For fans, celebrity resale events add a layer of intimacy. Shopping a rack once curated — or worn — by someone they admire connects fandom to material culture. Carpenter’s Secondhand pop-up event leans into that, letting visitors pose for Polaroids beside their finds, or stitch embroidered patches onto vintage tees. The appeal isn’t only what you take home; it’s that you’re part of a collective story.
The cultural momentum around resale is now feeding back into the mainstream luxury economy. ThredUp’s 2025 Resale Report found that more than half of global fashion executives plan to launch in-house resale programs by 2027. In short, what began as fan-driven enthusiasm has evolved into strategy — one that merges commerce with culture. For now, the lines outside Sabrina’s Secondhand suggest that shopping someone else’s closet may be the most modern way to shop your own.
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