Celebrity stylist Elizabeth Stewart usually spends her days dressing high-octane clients like Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth Olsen, and Viola Davis in the finest luxury clothing. But in the wake of the Los Angeles wildfires, Stewart is pulling all-nighters, sorting donations for people who have lost their homes. She will move her growing collection to a warehouse where, on Friday, she will welcome people from Altadena to the Palisades whose entire wardrobes have been reduced to ash. She is also packing suitcases for people who are too overwhelmed to come and peruse in person. Friends, neighbors, and brands alike have stepped up to the plate, meeting Stewart’s one request: “We’re trying to sort through donations with the criteria that I would give this to my best friend,” she says.
With fires decimating neighborhoods across Los Angeles, the city’s fashion community is uniting to find victims clothing that not only fits, but helps them return to a sense of normalcy. Even though Stewart is rounding up socks and underwear, she is keen on filling a void a step above the most immediate needs. “There’s plenty of donation centers where people can find the basic necessities,” Stewart says. “We’re trying to give people a start in feeling like themselves again, and give them a start to their closet forever—not to get through the next two weeks.” That means new, stylish clothing that people will actually want to wear, “something that will lift their spirits,” she says.
While looking good isn’t exactly on the base tier of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, its psychological importance cannot be overstated. “These people are still living their lives with their homes gone, and they still want to be able put something on and feel like themselves,” Stewart says. The desire to regain normalcy through fashion is perhaps most exemplified through the Altadena Girls, a donation site created by 14-year-old Avery Colvert specifically for the teenage victims of the Eaton Fire. “We’d love for the ‘shopping’ experience to feel good and special, not like grabbing things from a box or bag,” the group wrote on Instagram. Among those who volunteered their services were Jamie Mizrahi, who counts Jennifer Lawrence, Mikey Madison, and Jeremy Allen White as clients; Karla Welch who dresses Sarah Paulson and Anna Sawai; and Katie Qian, who has dressed the likes of Tyla and Camila Cabello. (The Altadena Girls received so much interest that one stylist was reportedly turned away due to the high volume of volunteers.)
Stylists across LA (and beyond) are bringing their unique set of skills and powerful Rolodexes to the table in the wake of a life-altering disaster. Lana Jay Lackey, who has styled everything from Billie Eilish’s Nike campaign to North West’s Interview Magazine cover, knew just what to do when starting the LA Clothing Drive. “I’ve been known to be on big jobs with 20 talent, 50 talent that need full outfits,” she says. “I was like, okay, let’s just use this formula that I’ve used for dressing people for jobs.”
Lackey, who is also in the midst of transporting her donations to a warehouse in Altadena, has compiled a spreadsheet of families—mostly victims of the Eaton Fire—who are in need of new wardrobes. So far, she has amassed nearly 200 families in need, and she keeps a photo of each person for reference. “We have direct communications with families. We have their numbers, we have their sizes, we have their location,” she says. “It means these families don’t need to go to donation centers and sort through stuff. We get to deliver straight to them.” While Lackey acknowledges the enormous demand—and the difficulties for a small group of people to meet it—she has received an outpouring of support. Interview editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg, fashion editor Alastair McKimm, and singer Charli xcx are among those who have directly boosted the LA Clothing Drive, encouraging brands to send new clothes to those in need.
Not everyone is focused on the new. Macy Eleni is a stylist, digital creator, and author of Second Chances: The Ultimate Guide to Thrifting, known for her thrift-toks and finding treasure troves of vintage in LA’s estate sales. Originally from Dayton, Ohio, she’s lived in LA since 2015. “I’m a transplant in this beautiful city. I dreamed of living here my whole life. My thrift community and so many of my followers are here. I have to give back,” Eleni says. She’s working with 12 women who have lost everything in the fires to rebuild their wardrobes with vintage designer and special archive pieces. With varying styles, needs, and sizes, she’s got their Pinterest boards and outfit photos to curate from.
“I’ve just been able to create this insanely beautiful community who really give a shit about people, the planet, and being themselves. Clothing is a vessel for storytelling and for healing. It’s been such a part of my mental health journey,” she adds. “I was seeing mutuals, girls I’ve met out at thrift stores, and followers losing their homes. That means losing their wardrobes that they’ve so carefully curated—some with little money, but so much passion.”
From both TikTok and her book tour, Eleni has connected with vintage stores U.S-wide that are becoming a valuable resource in this moment. Donations are coming from stores including Ragz and Relics in Nashville and LA’s Voulez Vous and Little Oyster Club, as well as Houston vintage dealer and creator Olivia Haroutounian. Eleni is going back to an estate sale where she’s being allowed to take pieces for free that haven’t been sold to redistribute.
Clothing donation points across Los Angeles for survivors are only accepting new, unused clothing, so Eleni sought to fill the gap: “I felt I could make some small impact instead one on one with girls, by helping them rebuild wardrobes that are special to them.” She has matched one young woman with a penchant for Y2K with her first Juicy Couture tracksuit from her personal collection, as well as some old-school Ed Hardy pieces and sequin Uggs from an estate sale she dug through last week. A pair of Manolo Blahniks and Balenciaga boots will be gifted to others. “If I can be that thrift and vintage fairy godmother right now, I’ll keep doing that,” Eleni says.
Like Eleni, Julia Rabinowitsch is also looking to the past to help rebuild the future. Rabinowitsch, who runs the Los Angeles-based vintage sourcing business The Millennial Decorator, has offered her services to help people find heirlooms they lost in the fire. “I saw a TikTok from a young girl lamenting over the fact that out of everything that their family lost, she was most upset about the vintage and archival pieces,” Rabinowitsch says. “It just struck a chord.”
Like Stewart and Lackey, Rabinowitsch acknowledges that what she’s offering isn’t an immediate necessity, but an important step in helping people restart their lives. “For many, their priority isn’t finding a designer bag right now,” she says. “But at the same time, for many, the items they know are impossible to find are the ones that hurt the most. Helping families find that one bag or item carried down generationally that they lost means the world.” Rabinowitsch is already in hot demand. “Today I’ve called Arizona to Canada to New York, looking for a archival YSL crucifix bag, which was like the sisterhood of the traveling bag for one family,” she says. “We’ve had a request for a Dior black silk dress, Tom Ford for YSL silk ruffle dress, Chanel loafers, a vintage Chanel bag, a Fendi bucket bag that was a family heirloom, and Armani belt that a girl shared with her mom and sister.” Though it’s a tall order, Rabinowitsch has already enlisted a small team of fashion experts to help.
While the need for clothing is immediate, Los Angeles’s fashion community is looking beyond the present moment. With years of rebuilding ahead, stylists and fashion experts are hoping that, in helping people rebuild their closets, they are helping people take a first step in restarting their lives. As Stewart puts it, “When you’ve lost everything, you don’t know where to begin.”
