Treasure Trove, Gabriel Held
Photography by Yasmin Jansen
Photography: Yasmin Jansen
Interview: Michelle Varinata
With a proliferation of multiple pop culture history accounts, and over 89.5K hashtags for #2000sfashion, there’s an undeniable desire for a 20th century past. Thanks to the tastemakers who post throwback shots of celebrities being dolled to the nines at red carpets, award shows and paparazzi photos from the ‘70s onwards, Instagram has become something like a digital magazine, maintaining nostalgia and fantasy. But unlike most IG accounts, the man with a pronounced hand in the Y2K revival is Gabriel Held.
As a stylist, designer and vintage dealer to the stars, Held’s collection leans towards loud logo prints and statement accessories that can dance circles around semi-autobiographical character Carrie Bradshaw. Countless magazines from PAPER to Galore have hired him to style eye-popping editorials. Even the OG Queen Bee Lil Kim, whom he credits as his ultimate she-ro, counts on Held to dress her up in vintage Chanel.
Apart from styling editorials and celebrities, Held is passionate about his #unsungsheroes, who range from supermodels to trans icons. Blessed with an intimate knowledge of pop culture history, he is a storyteller who blends passion and entertainment.
We talk about how he started #unsungsheroes, researching vintage without the Internet, and why good manners keep the creative process going.
Michelle Varinata: You were born and raised in NYC. What was it like for you to be surrounded by a diversity of different subcultures and their fashion senses?
Gabriel Held: Not only did I have the privilege of growing up in New York, but I also got to experience many different factions of culture. I believe that really shaped my sensibility in terms of mixing “high” and ”low”, and creating new hybrids from seemingly disparate sources.
MV: Campiness is such a big part of your aesthetic. When did you discover camp and what does it mean to you?
GH: I have always appreciated camp, literally from the age of six or seven years old, but I don’t think I came into a more refined understanding of what that actually means until my late teens/early 20s.
MV: I’ve noticed that you’ve been posting a lot of #unsungsheroes. Why did you start posting about it on Instagram?
GH: I have always been drawn to figures in entertainment and fashion who’ve made significant contributions that have not always been given the credit that they are entitled to. I was talking over how to share these figures with the friend who proposed the name “unsung sheros of fashion” and the rest is history.
MV: Who is your favorite #unsungshero of all time?
GH: Lil Kim and Misa Hylton (the woman behind any of Kim’s iconic looks) are both finally receiving some of the mainstream fashion industry’s celebration that they deserve and I’m thrilled!
MV: I’m surprised to learn that you used to go to thrift stores to source for vintage clothing before you sold them to your classmates in high school. When you first stepped into a thrift store, were you aware about what vintage was?
GH: Oh well if I recall correctly, some of my school clothes were even bought by my mother from thrift stores. The Internet was much more finite in my childhood, but I have always had the impulse to research, and go to the library and educate myself. In this day and age there is no such excuse for someone who’s a fashion enthusiast to not educate themselves with all of the information at our fingertips.
MV: For anyone who wants to start a vintage collection, what are the first few things that they can start collecting? What should they expect when buying a vintage item?
GH: My advice to those who want to start collecting vintage is to not be overly strategic, and to simply buy whatever excites you. In my opinion, creating a vintage collection is not like creating a good stock portfolio.
MV: As a vintage archivist and dealer, what’s the most requested item you’ve got from your clients?
GH: The demand for logo/ monogram pieces remains strong. So much so that I’ve actually started to become less interested in those pieces as they signify to me the mainstreaming of vintage, which to me has always connoted movement counter to mainstream fashion and culture.
MV: Given that you’re surrounded by different personalities, body types, and clients of various occupations, what are some life-changing lessons that you have learned?
GH: I certainly try to approach even the most frustrating of situations as educational experiences. I guess that some of the most important lessons I’ve learned through experience are to roll with the punches, and to be resourceful.
MV: You’ve done some rad cover shoots [and with that] what was the biggest creative challenge you had to overcome?
GH: A bad attitude can really negatively impact most aspects of the creative process that goes into photoshoots. I consider it part of my job to create a pleasant environment, but if there is talent or other behind-the-scenes people who don’t value that, it can be hard to overcome. On any set that I am working on you can expect to hear me say “please” and “thank you” ad nauseam and I expect others to do the same. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way. But water always finds its level.
MV: Lastly, do you have any plans to create a clothing line in the future?
GH: I designed a small capsule collection in collaboration with a brand called Print All Over Me a couple of years ago. I would love to take another stab at designing, especially if any brands would like to handle all of the administrative aspects and just let me be creative!
