EXCLUSIVE: Inside Justin Reed's Archival Fashion Week Paradise
When I say that Justin Reed enjoys the finer things in life, I mean that Justin Reed has developed a taste for only the rarest, most desirable clothing on the planet. Typically available only through Justin Reed's website, the archivist's expansive collection popped up in Paris for a first-ever IRL opportunity to get hands-on with the goods. And what goods they are.
Co-hosted by Basic.Space, a burgeoning e-com platform currently selling a special selection of Reed rarities (including some exclusive to its app), the Justin Reed's Paris Fashion Week pop-up managed to pack a massive offering into a tiny space.
Intentionally claustrophobic — really, it looked like a Brutalist bunker — Justin Reed's PFW space granted visitors the rare opportunity to shop unique pieces and exquisite rarities from luxury collector favorites.
Yes, Balenciaga was well represented. Definitely, there were some covetable layering pieces from CELINE and edgy street-luxe label Enfants Riches Déprimés.
Sure, Reed sourced some special vintage, including so much sought-after Alpinestars leather that the industrial bar holding them sagged under the weight. Of course, there was enough Chrome Hearts to smother a small child.
“These vintage motocross jerseys, vintage tree camo pants/tees, and thrashed pieces really give me middle of America vibes and have inspired some of my favorite brands in the past year or two," Reed told Highsnobiety. "I wanted to bring the original references of what's hot now to show the source of where it started.”
Plus, “I started this business by trying to find one-of-one items, so it feels right bringing one-of-one [items like the] hand-drawn leather Enfants Riches Deprimes jacket.”
What Helmut Lang expert David Casavant was to 2010s archivism, Justin Reed is to 2020s archivism.
By that, I mean that Casavant and his fashion archivist peers popularized the idea of holding up rare Helmut Lang, Raf Simons, and Number (N)ine clothes as rare treasures as desirable as any work of art.
The difference was that these vintage clothes, sold through websites and Instagram DMs rather than blue-chip auction houses, were intended to be worn.
But whereas the first wave of archivists flipped Lang, UNDERCOVER, Rick Owens, and Yohji Yamamoto, the new, younger crowd is focused on contemporary fare.
They offer all that stuff too, sure, but there's only so much Raf Simons to go around and plenty of other buzzy brands to break into.
Justin Reed, with his vast selection of Chrome Hearts, Louis Vuitton, Gallery Dept., Off-White™, and Balenciaga, doesn't limit his selection to only a handful of designers. Whatever's popping off in the greater street-fashion zeitgeist, Reed's deep into it.
Reed evolved from flipping rare sneakers to hording the world's rarest luxury clothing, eventually gathering enough garments to lure some of the world's most famous people to his treasure trove (in an interview from earlier this year, though, he asserted that celebrity clients only comprise a fraction of his business).
Reed has obtained everything from a Chrome Hearts plunger to Kanye "Ye" West's one-off Goyard backpack and then some.
Actually, speaking of Ye, Reed was particularly close to the inflammatory musician, obtaining a one-off bulletproof vest worn on Ye's DONDA tour, an original varsity jacket for Ye's long-scrapped PASTELLE clothing brand (it was purchased by Kim Kardashian for daughter North West), and even provided a few special pieces for Ye himself, if rumors are to be believed.
With the sheer scale and scope of Reed's collection, little wonder why.
