Yahoo Lifestyle EXCLUSIVE: EBay Launches Auction With Margherita Maccapani Missoni Featuring Pieces From Her Personal Archives
Margherita Maccapani Missoni has been a devoted eBay shopper since 2002, and now her own achievements will be put up for auction on the platform. The platform features a deeply personal collection curated to tell the story of her life, family, and career.
Missoni’s eBay auction will join the company’s “From the Collection” series. Previous drops in the series have included auctions in collaboration with Elton John, Jenna Lyons and Heron Preston, among others. Proceeds from the auction will support OAfrica, a nonprofit organization that develops programs and projects to help vulnerable children and their families in Ghana, which Missoni supports passionately as an international ambassador.
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Open through Dec. 12, the Margherita Maccapani Missoni “From the Collection” auction will feature items including M Missoni designs from Missoni’s time as creative director and exclusive pre-owned, vintage and archival pieces — each with their own story from the “It” girl’s life from her career to her family and travels.
As a third-generation designer and creative entrepreneur Missoni has been celebrated for her unique style and design talent. Slightly lesser known, however, is her passion for discovering pre-loved and vintage pieces, which she told WWD is something she has done throughout her life with her family.
“The thrifting passion is a cultural moment for us,” Missoni said. “It was a big thing in my family. We would meet up on Sunday morning and head together to the flea market. The love for treasure hunting has really been cultural for us and a tool in our creative process.”
When eBay entered the scene, Missoni said it was a great moment for her family and became a “big source for research. Flea markets are very local, but eBay is very global. Through eBay, it’s possible to go beyond and that was very inspiring.”
Missoni’s discovery of eBay occurred in 2002, just before her move to New York. She and her mom used eBay to thoroughly furnish Missoni’s New York apartment, a time she looks back at fondly. As a nod to that time of discovery, Missoni’s “From the Collection” auction will price all items to start at $20.02.
Notably, the auction is not the first time that Missoni has partnered with eBay. The designer launched “MaccaFinds” powered by eBay in September as a curated series of limited-time drops that featured eBay-sourced accessories styled with pieces from the Maccapani spring 2024 collection.
With the auction being the next phase in a larger partnership with eBay, Missoni raved that she is “very happy about the partnership” which she said is very authentic. “I’ve been dreaming of working with eBay for a very long time, because it’s really a tool that exists in my life and I’m so happy this came about,” Missoni told WWD.
To curate a collection for the “From the Collection” auction, Missoni said she was happy to do so for charity. The opportunity also provided a reason to go through the archives that she has organized with finds and saved items from her collection as well as what she has inherited from her family.
“I have had a big archive of clothing that I use for work, and I’ve also inherited through the years, because obviously my mom and my grandma were also designing clothes, and my grandmother has been buying vintage since the ’50s,” Missoni said. “I’m the most organized and tidy, so I’m the one who’s keeping the archive. And this archive keeps growing.”
The collection, she said, is very personal for her. Favorites, or stand outs, in the auction include a pair of boots designed by Missoni and a long Missoni gown embroidered with big 3D-printed sequins. The gown, she said, is a “particularly special item” that she has “dear memories with” from wearing during her pregnancy in Paris one summer.
While the pieces in the Margherita Maccapani Missoni “From the Collection” auction are specially curated by the designer herself and shoppable for just over a week, fans of the brand have been avidly shopping Missoni on eBay.
On eBay the number of sold vintage Missoni clothing, shoes and accessories has increased by more than 130 percent in the past 10 years. According to the company, this rise corresponds with fashion enthusiasts “pull toward instantly recognizable heritage brands.” In its research, the company has found that more than half of consumers are “likely to make a purchase if it evokes nostalgia,” which they expect to see in Missoni’s auction.
When asked how she felt about the increase of Missoni purchases on eBay, Missoni said she sees it as a “good sign, meaning that the brand has an iconic feel to it.”
“Young people still want to wear it, which is a great trait for brand,” she said. “There is that ’70s moment of boho chic that has been Missoni’s big moment and became global. There’s always been this trend of grandpa sweaters and Missoni was very big in menswear in the ’80s and everybody was wearing these very colorful sweaters. It was very part of the culture, and I think young kids started discovering that in the past 10 years and Missoni hasn’t really been making those sweaters. I think there was an interest in a in a new phase of the Missoni history that was hadn’t been revisited by the brand itself.”
In total, the number of listings for M Missoni on eBay increased more than 350 percent in 2024, compared to 2022.
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