Vestiaire Collective Celebrates Kate Foley As Contrib Fashion Director With A Chic Supper

That cocktail of unrelenting rain and very chilly temps on Tuesday night didn’t stop Vestiaire Collective’s dinner to toast its recently-anointed contributing fashion director Kate Foley from feeling like a magical, very chic rooftop garden party. The French-born designer resale site brought fashionettes like stylist Johnny Wujek, Athena Calderone, Mia Moretti, DJ Harley Viera Newton, W’s Richie De Sole Webster, and more to dine alfresco at Gallow Green, learn more about Vestiaire from co-founder Fanny Moizant and, of course, Foley, who was already a VIP seller on the site before she was tapped for the role.

A stylish klatch of eds noshed on apps like burrata with spring peas and marinated artichokes with marcona almonds before swapping rose for red when the main courses, including mahi mahi with Parisian gnocchi, roast chicken, and a particularly popular steak option, plated with fries, mushrooms, herb salad, and asparagus, hit the table. Speaking of that table setting: Foley apparently picked out the lush floral arrangements herself, which were accented with drippy pillar candles. Before sharable plates of dessert, piled with petite lemon tartlets, brownies, and linzer tortes, were trotted out, we chatted with Foley about Vestiaire Collective and how it’s changed the game for her (and her overstuffed closet)… 

How did you get hooked on Vestiaire Collective?
A friend of mine introduced me—I was sitting with her in my house last summer in Long Island complaining about how I used to sell lots on eBay years ago, but now I just have piles of stuff. I’m not going to lie—I really love fashion and I love to buy things.

So where was all this stuff accumulating?
In this home office room, that’s kind of like a dumping ground. I had all this guilt about hoarding stuff. I didn’t grow up in a family where we were always shopping, so it felt kind of evil to have so much—and I’d still wake up in the morning saying, ‘What am I going to wear?’ I can’t even think. I look at my stuff and am so overwhelmed that I end up pulling out whatever I wore a day or two ago. I have this ladder in my room, weirdly, and I’d just pile things on. It was so overwhelming, I couldn’t even look at it.

How has Vestiaire changed your overflowing closet crises?
I’m a VIP member, so they come out to my house and pick things up—they do everything that took so much time when I was selling on eBay. I don’t have time to go to the post office three times a day, or reply to someone’s questions about the measurements. I thought there had to be some type of catch, and there really wasn’t. Since then, I’ve been using it nonstop to sell and buy.

So you’re not just cleansing your closet on the site?!
No! The problem is, now that I’m working with them, I spend even more time looking at the site. When I got to showcase my favorite selections [of other peoples’ items], I had this dilemma because I wanted to buy everything I was picking.

What’s different about this role versus other fashion companies you’ve worked with?
I’ve worked with tons of different retailers and brands, and they were all amazing.  I was  in a lucky position so far—I’ve always worked with people that I really love and believe in. The amazing thing about Vestiaire Collective is that I genuinely loved to use it for such a long time.

Have you turned a lot of friends onto it?
I have. Sometimes I feel like a little bit of a broken record, but I wouldn’t ever bang on about something if I didn’t love it. There are things I’ve loved or wanted to love, but didn’t fit me or look right on me, or things I’ve wore once or twice. It’s always nice for clothes to have second lives.