what i kept
By Sasha Mutchnik, senior social editor for the Cut and New York. She also writes about style, culture and nightlife in New York, and makes memes under the alias @starterpacksofnyc.
Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photos: Courtesy of Eden Pritkin
Eden Pritikin started collecting Balenciaga in high school. “This was in the era of Tumblr,” she said. “I would go through Style.com, through like every designer, and pull out my favorite looks from each collection.” She was in love when she saw the spring 2003 Balenciaga collection by Nicolas Ghesquière. “Each season [from Ghesquière] had such a clear inspiration … It felt like a character coming out each season. It always felt a freshness of ideas.” But Pritikin saw Ghesquière’s vision through sliding doors — by the time she started delving into the designer’s work for Balenciaga, he was already on his way out at the brand. “I was sort of learning about the merry-go-round of designers going to different houses,” she says. “It really just stuck with me as I continued on my fashion education.”
Now 27, Pritikin’s obsession with the late ‘90s and early 2000s pieces that hit Balenciaga’s runway under Ghesquière’s tenure has led her to amass quite an archive. But she’s recently decided to downsize, selling her collection through her Instagram, @e.archive. “I’ve realized that the time in my life when I was collecting these pieces was also a period of time where I was really unhappy,” she says. “Being able to look back at it has helped me to recontextualize that time in my life and reclaim it.” Even with her new outlook, Pritikin admits some finds are too good to let go. Here, she shares the five pieces she can’t bear to part with.
1.
The spring 2003 jungle print scuba top
Price: $750
Photo: Courtesy of Eden Pritikin
This was the piece that really jump-started my entire collection. So the story goes: I was visiting New York one summer, on a work trip, last minute trip, and I totally forgot that there was going to be this vintage pop-up at Opening Ceremony. So I stopped in as I usually do, on trips to New York, was going through the racks, and kind of noticed that there were these Helmut Lang and Raf Simmons pieces that kind of seemed out of the ordinary. And in the back of my head, I knew these could be vintage. And then finally, I’m going through the racks, and this jungle print scuba top screams out at me. And it was the first time I had ever seen a piece of that caliber before in the flesh. And I just knew on the spot, like, I needed to have this top. Because if I don’t buy it, someone else will and I can’t live with myself if that happens. And it was the most I’d ever spent on a single piece of clothing.
I had this really emotional reaction to seeing it in the store where I was very close to tears. And the person who was working at Opening Ceremony at the time was so moved by my reaction. And he was like, ‘we’ve had so many people coming in and out and not even registering that these are such important vintage pieces. And you’re the first person that’s had this reaction.’ And I went back to Opening Ceremony a year later, and the same guy remembered me as the girl who was freaking out over the Balenciaga.
2.
The fall 2000 jungle print tapestry pants
Price: $375
Photos: Courtesy of Eden Pritikin.
Photos: Courtesy of Eden Pritikin.
I had a dream about these pants, and then I saw them on Vestiaire Collective. I was able to purchase them for like 300 bucks. And I had a top from the same collection with this red tapestry shoulder detail. The person I bought it from told me that all of the tapestry pieces from fall 2000 were cut from the same piece of vintage tapestry. So there’s a finite amount of pieces out there. For a while, I thought that these pants were one of one, but I recently learned that someone else does have another pair so I know if there are two existing pairs of these jungle pants.
3.
The Aviator bag
Price: $150
Photo: Courtesy of Eden Pritikin
I have these Japanese auction sites that I love to troll. And I saw this bag come up, and miraculously – usually you have one other person bidding when there’s a Japanese auction. The bag which, at the time, I had only seen two versions of before: one on The RealReal that sold like years ago, and one on Tradesy (Tradesy doesn’t even exist anymore.) And I just remember when it came, I was so excited. It was like my dream, dream, dream piece. Because I love that graffiti print and like the bouclé fabric I wore it every day the summer that I got it.
4.
The fall 2002 wool scarf
Price: $300
Photos: Courtesy of Eden Pritikin.
Photos: Courtesy of Eden Pritikin.
I have to give a shout-out to my mom. While I was living in London, she was at home in Chicago, kind of receiving all of the pieces that I was buying, unboxing them, and taking photos of them for me. I called her my assistant. Oftentimes when I was buying pieces, if I resold them, sometimes I never even saw them in the flesh. My mom was the one repacking and shipping them out to various collectors who were buying them from me. But this scarf. I used to have this follower on Instagram, who every so often would send me random listings of really great Balenciaga pieces. He sent me the scarf. It was for sale at a place called Ruse Boutique in Montreal. And while I was in London, I was on the phone with them for a day, trying to figure out how to get them to ship it to the US. And then one day I got a FaceTime call from my mom. She’s just wearing the scarf. And it’s like this massive thing. She said she opened up the package and thought I had ordered a dead animal back to Chicago. It’s the one piece that if I fire went off in my apartment, I would grab.
5.
The fall 2001 embroidered vest
Price: $440
Photos: Courtesy of Eden Pritikin.
Photos: Courtesy of Eden Pritikin.
There’s this seller on Vestiaire Collective. Her name is Carol, she’s from Belgium. And she has every so often she’ll drop just the most insane Balenciaga runway pieces and they usually sell out so fast. So I bought this vest at the height of the pandemic. I woke up early one morning and saw this on Vestiaire Collective, and managed to snap it up within two minutes of it going live. But then when it reached Vestiaire to be authenticated, they rejected the piece, because the condition wasn’t up to par. (It has some fading, and some holes on some of the ruffles, which I really didn’t mind.) I’d never seen this piece before. Still, to this day, the only one I’ve ever seen on the market before. And I was able, in the comments of this piece, to get Carol to re-list the item, so I could re-purchase it. And finally, it got to me and I have to keep this one. Because every week, someone asks me if they can buy the best off of me. So I know how valuable it is. I just have to hold onto it for as long as possible.
Tags:
- balenciaga
- what i kept
- eden pritikin
- nicolas ghesquière
- y2k fashion
- 2000s
- old balenciaga
- vintage
- archival fashion
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