If learning about the provenance of fashion, how to catalogue it and then care for it seems unusual for a teenager, Goldwyn’s background is a good indicator of how her passion for getting lost in the past started. Her father, film producer Samuel Goldwyn Junior, a self-confessed clothes horse always besuited by Savile Row, was handed down style notes from his father, Samuel Goldwyn, a heavyweight film producer during Hollywood’s heyday.
“Coco Chanel was briefly under contract to my grandfather in the ’30s,” Goldwyn shares with Vogue. “He even built her a replica of her own Paris atelier in his studio, but many of the looks Chanel made for his stars were never used. Hollywood actresses, such as Gloria Swanson, were horrified by Chanel’s androgynous chic, because they wanted gowns that would emphasise their curves.”
Goldwyn’s own personal treasures include a knitted hat that belonged to Bob Marley; a G-string that Zorita, one of the subjects of her book, Pretty Things: The Last Generation of American Burlesque Queens, made for her; and a pink Versace lace-up corset dress worn to the premiere of her first film, Pretty Things. The latter will be sold in the third instalment of Vestiaire Collective’s Archive Series from October 25. “The dress defined a moment of complete sexual empowerment for me,” she says. “I’m sad to see it go! But pleased that it will live another life with a new owner and benefit a good cause.” Indeed, 10 per cent of the profits from the 300 rare pieces in Goldwyn’s edit will go to Dress for Success, which provides professional attire for low-income women to support their job search.
Much like her link to Coco Chanel, Goldwyn's most-cherished pieces in the sale conjure up the Hollywood-tinged tales of her life so far. “One of my favourite memories is dancing at my 22nd birthday dinner with my friend, the iconic ’60s model Peggy Moffitt, wearing a black brocade Mr Blackwell gown with acid green flowers on it,” she recalls. A ’30s fringed black velvet showgirl costume that Goldwyn purchased when researching Pretty Things, meanwhile, evokes a time when her career was gathering pace. “We have priced it well so that someone can actually wear it out now if they want to,” she explains.
How did the resale e-tailer convince Goldwyn to part with other gems, including rare Balenciaga, Maison Martin Margiela and Yves Saint Laurent collectors' items? “I had been thinking about doing a sale and pulling things aside for a few years, so if a piece was on my ‘to go’ rack, I couldn’t look back,” she explains. “Even now, there are things that I wish I wasn’t selling, such as an Angelo Tarlazzi cocktail dress with a pillow heart on the bottom, but I remind myself of the joy I had in finding them and owning them, and how they might empower others.”
Wardrobe space is also needed for the items she’s still lusting over. A Geoffrey Beene sequined football jersey minidress, a Charles James corseted ball gown and a Rudi Gernreich piece from his collection based on Kees Van Dongen are all on her list. “It’s one of my biggest vintage regrets that I sold a pink jersey safety pin dress by Zandra Rhodes back in the day," she laments. "I thought I would find it again, but 20 years later I’ve had no such luck!”
As fabulous as her archive is, behind the glamour is an obsessive researcher who applies the same rigour to fashion as she does to her work. She was first able to buy vintage because of the money she earned from collecting recycling, and the two have always been entwined for her. “Yes, I love beautiful shiny shoes, dresses and lingerie as much as the next person, but I think we, as a global community, have to consider how much excess there is currently being pumped out,” she says, adding that the only items she buys new are lingerie, stockings and shoes. Goldwyn's favourite thing to do may be to sink her teeth into a specific period or designer that piques her curiosity, but she's using her time in the present to help spread the word about the precautions we need to make for our future, too.
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