YOUNG FOLKS DISCOVERING ANTIQUES

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V24 2021 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 12, March 21, 2021, Article 35

For some time the narrative around antiques and collectibles has been that younger generations aren't interested and collecting is going the way of the dodo bird. But this Los Angeles Times article notes a trend in the opposite direction - young folks discovering antiques through social media. -Editor

Sup, queens, Macy Eleni calls to her quarter-million TikTok followers in a recent video. Welcome to another ultra-fabulous, packed-to-the-brim Los Angeles estate sale.

Since the start of the pandemic, Eleni has racked up a rabid following as she shops her way through estate sales, thrift shops and antique stores, dropping tips for newbies to the pre-owned world she has haunted since she was a kid. The twist: Eleni is 28 and her followers skew even younger than her fellow millennials.

This runs counter to all that the kids don’t want your stuff downsizing advice doled out in recent years by AARP and others. PBS’ long-running Antiques Roadshow regularly updates vintage episodes showing sharply lower appraisal values, particularly for furniture.

But COVID has changed everything. Stuck at home and videoconferencing, young people with eco-conscious values have become a prized new market for antiques and art to liven up their spaces, moving up the shopping ladder from de rigueur vintage clothing, anecdotal evidence indicates.

Eleni realized she had tapped a rich vein when she was switching apartments during the first week of the coronavirus lockdown, and, with thrift stores closed down, she visited an estate sale to scope out things for her new place. The house was a 1980s mansion, and she decided to film the trip and turn it into a TikTok, where she is known as @blazedandglazed.

By the end of the day, her post had tens of thousands of views with a comments section full of teenagers who’d never heard of such an event, where people open their homes with an everything must go mentality. Usually, it’s because someone has died and the relatives want to sell their possessions quickly, or a homeowner is moving and can’t take everything with them.

Eleni never spends more than $100 per item, and her hauls have included antique jewelry, clothing, furniture and home décor. Standouts include a pair of custom trash cans: a leopard-print one and a ribbed-glass one she describes as sexy ‘80s dad vibes.

Her rapid success has landed her partnerships with multiple companies that run estate sales. Often, she’ll go in a day early and film a video to promote the sale.

TikTok blows everything up, said Eleni, who graduated from Ohio University with a retail and fashion degree and hopes to eventually parlay the viral fame into a thrifting TV show. Posting one video can change a thrift store’s life.

Stefani Colvin, a 21-year-old musician and estate sale frequenter, has another theory on the uptick in younger antique enthusiasts.

Young people aspire to be different, especially Gen Z, she said. The idea of having something old no one has is appealing to us.

During the pandemic, Colvin has been making money through Depop, a secondhand sales platform primarily used by Millennials and Gen Z. To date, she’s sold 1,541 items and racked up 30,000 followers for her unique offerings including Betty Boop tank tops, colorful sweaters and shirts with flaming skulls.