As luxury brands play hard to get, a new class of fashion insiders is working its magic to secure the season’s most coveted pieces

By Alyssa Vingan

Until relatively recently, shopping for luxury fashion was shrouded in mystery. The secrets to securing rare, hot-ticket items were kept by a select few—big-spending very important clients, editors, and Hollywood heavyweights—before eventually trickling out in small bits of pop-culture lore, like the 2001 Sex and the City episode that revealed Hermès Birkin bags had five-year-long waiting lists.

Now Instagram and TikTok have fully pulled the curtain back: runway shows are live-streamed instead of gatekept, and influencers with followings in the millions have early access to holy-grail items, due to brand deals or personal relationships. Nonetheless, getting your hands on READ ON