Interview conducted on May 26th
By Ryan Lowe, edited by Ben Pigott
Ryan Lowe: Who are you? Where are you based?
Cara Mia Vintage: My name’s Cara, I’m in Sydney. I’m from Australia.
RL: What is your role/relationship with fashion?
CM: I’m a vintage dealer, I’ve had my own business for almost 12 years now. I’ve been collecting for probably a little over 20 years now. I think I started Cara Mia Vintage around the beginning of 2012 so next year will be 12 years.
RL: Do you have any education in fashion?
CM: No, none whatsoever. The only thing close to being a formal fashion education, was when I was in my early 20s I was traveling a lot and I did a fashion design short course with a designer from Roberto Cavalli in Italy. That was a couple of months but it was more of something I did because it interested me. My background is in media and law, so I worked in both of those industries, I have degrees in both of those things. I didn’t love the corporate world, do you understand that?
RL: I’m still young, I’m kind of in my rebellious era still.
CM: So how did you come to this Ryan? I know I’m not supposed to be asking the questions.
RL: No, you’re completely allowed to, I love having conversations. I would skip my college courses and go to my local library and I found myself checking out books or renting a room at the library and taking notes on the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s fashion. Everything before this modern era of fashion. The history excites me, I don’t know, I’m obsessed with it.
CM: I’m the same, I come from the same place as you. That’s really what gets me excited about fashion. Modern fashion is not that exciting to me. There are obviously specific designers that are doing good work but for me, it’s always been the 20th century of fashion has been where it’s at.
RL: I started working with a blog based in London and that got me online. It showed me the analytics and how far you can reach people, it’s a really cool thing to share information, whether it’s old or new, and have people feel like they’re gaining something from it if that makes sense.
CM: 100%, I get it.
RL: I love to talk to people and tell people’s stories.
CM: And that’s how you learn.
RL: Exactly.
RL: You’ve provided/sourced timeless garments/looks for celebrities – what does that feel like?
CM: Any celebrity that I can reach from Australia is a minor miracle in itself. Obviously, we’re quite isolated here and I’ve spent time in America and Europe and I feel like it would be a lot easier for me to run this business from America or Europe because the access to high-profile clients is a lot easier. But it makes me happy that vintage fashion is being recognized as such a viable choice these days whereas 10 or 20 years ago that wasn’t the case at all. It makes me just as happy to sell something to any ordinary person who loves what they buy as it does to dress a celebrity. It’s great in terms of exposure but I’ve made some great friends from selling vintage garments and that can be just a fulfilling.
RL: Name some pieces, or seasons that you adore.
CM: The things I’ve found the hardest to let go of, the things that I’ve been most attracted to, have been Vivienne Westwood. Particularly 90s Vivienne Westwood. And now I know that Vivienne Westwood is like, the hottest thing and everyone wants Vivienne Westwood but 10 years ago, 15 years ago no one was interested in Vivienne Westwood, I couldn’t give her stuff away, honestly. Gaultier was the same. I’ve always loved Westwood corsets. Also 90s Chanel by Karl, the accessories, the clothes, the prints. Those are the things that I really struggled to sell when I sourced them because they appealed to me personally and I always wanted to keep them!
RL: Does Cara Mia Vintage employ a lot of people or is it just you?
CM: Most of the time it’s just me. I do have interns and assistants that come and go and I outsource some things, like web design work. I don’t photograph everything myself. In terms of sourcing, that’s all me. I do research and all of my social media. I do a lot.
RL: Tell me a story about your business that makes it worth it.
CM: My favorite part of the business is discovering things. That’s what really gets me going, it’s always been the thrill of the hunt. Some vintage dealers operate from, they see something like a runway image and say, “I want that piece,” and then they hunt down that piece. I’m more like, I’m looking around and what am I going to find? I have found a couple of amazing collections, like full lots of things. One of the most incredible things that I found was a woman in Melbourne had a collection of about 500 pieces of deadstock, with tags, the ‘70s, and ‘80s YSL running from the Russian collection, 1976 through the 80s. Full runway looks just sitting in a garage. Half of it was in garbage bags. When I stumble across something like that I’m like, “Wow, this is insane. I could start a museum with this collection.” Those are the most thrilling moments, finding things like that. Selling it is not as exciting for me.
RL: Do you like to source online or in person?
CM: I’d rather do it in person. I love to dig and sift through. I’m happy to go into a thrift shop, a market store, I don’t care. I will get in there and look at every piece. Online is obviously a lot more convenient. I find very often when I purchase online there can be issues that inexperienced people are selling and they don’t know if alterations have been made or maybe there’s been some staining. Things arrive and you might not necessarily be thrilled with what you’ve got.
RL: Are you planning to expand?
CM: I would love that, I did a pop-up last year and it was amazing. It was great to meet customers, new and existing. With vintage, people really want to try it on, touch it, and feel it. It’s like what you asked earlier, “Do you want to buy online or do you want to buy in person?” I want to buy it in person and I want to try it on. I think people do. If you’re buying a tank top from H&M for $15, sure, you buy it online and it’s not a big thing. If you’re going to spend $500-$2,000 on a vintage piece, it’s a big leap of faith to buy online. Even though we’re so used to online shopping. Especially with vintage, the sizing’s really different depending on the age and the designer. I don’t think you can quite capture the magic of a vintage piece online. I think there are a lot of dealers doing a really good job but I think seeing it in person is something really different. Recognizing that, because I’m primarily selling online, with every single piece I go to great lengths to style it, photograph it, authenticate it, find the references & list out every flaw so that the customer knows exactly what they’re getting & not only is super happy with their purchase but in most cases, it exceeds their expectations.
RL: What does the future hold for Cara Mia Vintage?
CM: I want to explore some lesser-known designers. I feel like the market for those really big designers is kind of played out, in terms of buying and selling. As exciting as it is to find a Chanel 1995 runway piece, and I do love that, it’s amazing, you see those pieces get a certain amount of exposure already. All the big vintage dealers are kind of floating the same collections and the same pieces, now all of a sudden everyone’s doing Cavalli. It’s like a trend cycle is happening in vintage. I think it’s a bit more interesting to explore, “Who are some other designers who were really big in their day that people don’t know as much about now?” I see it all the time now, like the Chanel Barbie collection or the Cavalli Ming Vase collection, everyone wants pieces from that. I think it’s very celebrity driven.
RL: Any advice to others out there who want to begin in this business but may not have the funds?
CM: Read. Research. Read fashion books, not just fashion books that are coffee table books. For example, I recently read Patricia Field’s autobiography, a new book that just came out. She talks about all the different designers she stocked in her stores from the 70s through today. She talks about younger designers too. You can start to build an inventory of knowledge. If you walk into a thrift store and there’s some dress that’s got some kind of obscure label you’ll know, ‘Oh, this is actually an important designer in the 70s, this was stocked in Patricia Field’s store in the 80s,’ you know? You don’t necessarily need big bucks to buy those pieces, you just need to develop your eye and your knowledge to find those things. It’s still out there, you just have to develop the knowledge. Watch fashion documentaries, and look at old magazines.