Free Boutiques and Personal Styling: How the Industry Is Helping Angelenos Rebuild Their Wardrobes Post-Fire

It’s been a week since we watched our screens in horror as massive flames engulfed the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods of Los Angeles. And even as the wildfires continued to spread, those of us lucky enough to live outside of their paths could think of little else but: What are these people going to do? Are my friends and family OK? And how can I help? And evidently, those of us working in fashion also thought: They need clothes.

Well, those of us working in fashion and one eighth-grade girl who no longer had a school to go to after hers was swiftly destroyed by the Eaton Fire. As relief efforts were being shared and organized on social media shortly after these fires began tearing through residential areas, Altadena Girls was quick to go viral. Fourteen-year-old Avery Colvert started the project because most of her friends lost their homes (and everything inside), and she wanted to help.

“When disaster strikes, people only focus on basic survival needs. But for teenage girls who have lost everything, feeling like ourselves again is also really important for our #mentalhealth. Things like basic #hygiene products to the #makeup we wear every day help us feel normal in a time when everything else feels chaotic,” she posted on the newly created Altadena Girls Instagram account on Saturday, Jan. 11. “I want to help other teen girls in my community rebuild their sense of identity and self-confidence during this difficult time.”

Within 48 hours, the Altadena Girls Instagram account was getting reposted by Paris Hilton and receiving donations of brand-new product from Charli XCX, not to mention countless fashion and beauty brands and prominent content creators who’d mobilized to help. Individual donations were being turned away due to the overwhelming response, and the warehouse-turned-creative studio in which they’d only planned to receive and sort donations became a temporary store — replete with merchandised racks of brand-new clothing in all sizes, unopened beauty products for all skin tones and types, a well-stocked shoe section organized by size and experienced volunteer stylists to help teen shoppers find whatever they might need and put outfits together.

I use the term “shoppers” loosely, since everything there is free, but it really feels more like a proper store than a makeshift donation center — like a sample sale that had been planned and promoted for weeks, at the very least.

“Does anyone have eyes on Avery?” an adult woman volunteer asked into a mouthpiece, Secret Service-style, after leading me inside the space on Monday afternoon. They didn’t (I’d heard she was exhausted and taking a break from interviews, and who am I to argue with that? She’s 14 and has been through a hell of a lot in the last week.) So I chatted with her kind and slightly (understandably) emotional mother, Lauren.

“It kind of took on a life of its own,” she told me. “I’m in no way an operations expert whatsoever, but everyone that’s come in and showed up every day — they took the lead.” (That said, she worked as a stylist before becoming a mom.)

She feels that many people identified with the mental health aspect of her daughter’s message: “When you’re this age, your identity has everything to do with your clothes, your hair, your makeup… [Avery] couldn’t imagine having to have all that gone, especially right after the holidays.”

The Colverts and their volunteers felt strongly that the people coming in, having likely just lost everything, deserved to have new things and a curated experience, rather than “digging through a bin.”

This is a sentiment echoed by the organizers of other donation-fueled free clothing stores that have cropped up around L.A.

Melynda Choothesa converted and expanded her vintage shop Quirk in Downtown Los Angeles into another donation-driven free retail space, also buoyed by social media and a partnership with Well Cloth’d in New York. Choothesa works under a similar ethos, dialed up a bit for grown-ups, when it comes to the experience she wants to create for those coming in to rebuild their wardrobes — to whom she and her growing team of volunteers always refer as “clients” (as opposed to, say, “victims”), “like we would with any other high-end retail environment.”

“The people who are in need can get a sense of agency,” Choothesa continued on Tuesday while her phone buzzed non-stop with calls and texts. “They’re all thankful for the fact that they get to choose clothing and it’s organized and they can try it on and they don’t have to dig through a pile of stuff — they’ve already been traumatized.”

Only a couple of days into the operation, Choothesa has begun fine-tuning the vetting process for volunteers, like a store manager might shortly after opening up shop. It’s no surprise, then, that the vintage seller/costume designer/professional stylist (and sometimes actor) also has many years of retail management experience under her belt.

It began with a role as assistant manager of a Buffalo Exchange. “It was a crash course on different brand names, inspecting items to see if they were viable for sale and so forth and so on,” she says.

Choothesa’s team recently put up a questionnaire for prospective volunteers to fill out as something of a screening process — perhaps a natural response to the fact that Quirk, like Altadena Girls and other similar initiatives, has been so inundated with prospective volunteers that they’ve had to turn some away. She hopes the questions — like “Do you have retail experience?” and “Are you a professional fashion stylist?” etc. — will “help weed out people who are just like, ‘I volunteered! Hi, TikTok, I am such a good person.'” 

Specifically, she’s looking for people with high-end, commission-based, client-based retail experience. “We have a lot of really big plans in order,” she says, “and we want people who can support that.” 

Choothesa’s goal is to build this into a “free department store,” and she and her team are well on their way.

As these initiatives popped up, there was no way of knowing how long they’d last — not to outsiders, clients or the organizers themselves — but it’s becoming clear that many are in it for the (at least somewhat) long haul. Choothesa is thinking months ahead. Colvert is in the process of relocating to, per Lauren, a “permanent or semi-permanent spot” in the Pasadena area.  

Andie Verbance, owner of Ririku — a small, charming Highland Park boutique that typically offers independent designer fashion and vintage homewares — put her business on hold to convert the space into a donation and distribution center and free shop stocked with new and gently used adult clothing. She and her eager volunteers initially planned to operate this way for a week but recently confirmed it will have sufficient inventory to commit through the end of the month. This is partially thanks to Nuuly (the URBN-owned clothing rental service), which had shipped Ririku 20 boxes of new items.

Verbance has years of experience in wholesale and distribution and has set up many a sample sale — which is what these free shops feel most akin to. And, like others in her position, she wants to use that skillset to make it as easy as possible for people in need to rebuild their wardrobes, while also creating a comfortable environment for visitors who, as many describe it, are in mourning.

“Everyone is allowed to like take the time they need and express the emotions that they have and it’s just a safe space for them to come and get things that they need,” she says. Her team even offers surveys for those in need to fill out, then a volunteer will create a profile and assemble a bag of pieces that fit their needs, preferences and sizes, and then deliver it if needed.

These (free) personalized styling experiences are continuing to arise — and bring the free, curated fashion directly to those who need it. A network of stylists, producers and other local industry professionals have assembled to start L.A. Clothing Drive, which has been amplified by the likes of Mel Ottenberg, Charli XCX, Kaia Gerber and other high-profile creatives.

“We are volunteering to support affected individuals by creating and delivering personalized wardrobe packages based on style, size and specific needs with the goal of making them feel like themselves again,” writes Kaitlyn Fong of Rosco Productions (one of the original “founders” of this initiative) over email. “Donation centers are flooded right now. For many people, accessing them and finding what they need can feel impossible when they’re already juggling an overwhelming to-do list. Essentials like food, water and medical supplies are critical — but so is regaining a sense of identity and normalcy in the face of unimaginable loss.”

Currently, they are organizing from hubs on the west and east sides of L.A. to sort donations from an impressive roster of brands. Levi’s, Supreme, Collina Strada and Homme Girls are among those who had at least made commitments by press time, and the organizers are definitely eager to sign on more. “No donation is too big or small so we can continue to help more people (any size, age and gender),” Fong notes. “Although we’re looking for all types of donations for new apparel and accessories, we would love more baby, children and sneaker brands on board.”

It’s clear from talking to these fast-acting organizers and other locals that the road to recovery is going to be long, and victims are going to continue to need resources, including clothes, weeks, months and even years from now. The hope is that this is just the beginning, and that, like many things in fashion, such efforts are more than just a passing trend.

Find more information on these projects and how to help below:

Altadena Girls
Quirk
Ririku
L.A. Clothing Drive

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Source: Fashionista.com