Earlier than deciding to promote her designer garments, Monica Suk had barely heard of Dora Maar.
Now, she needs she by no means had — after the fashionable NYC-based on-line luxurious consignment store went out of enterprise, leaving her excessive and dry.
The corporate and its founder and chief government, Lauren Taylor Wilson, have been as soon as splashed throughout the pages of Vogue, Marie Claire, Ladies’s Put on Each day, Forbes and The Wall Street Journal.
Lilah Ramzi, an editor and style historian, and the type blogger Leandra Medine Cohen additionally helped promote the project, giving it extra heft — Rodarte and Markarian, who dressed Jill Biden for the 2021 inauguration, even teamed up with the trendy site to resell inventory.
“It appeared legit, and it was cool,” Suk, a 36-year-old tech skilled in Hong Kong, instructed The Put up.
Wilson, 35, introduced main cred to the venture, having beforehand held spectacular positions at luxurious platform Moda Operandi and in advertising at Christie’s and Gucci earlier than beginning Dora Maar in 2019 to promote high-end style by group and storytelling and set up a provenance for each bit of clothes.
Not like competing consignment operations like The RealReal, Vestiaire Collective, Poshmark or Rebag, Dora Maar, named for the Surrealist photographer and onetime lover of Picasso, elevated its consignors to rock star standing.
The sellers, most of whom have been micro-influencers Wilson referred to as “muses,” have been highlighted on the web site and on social media in magazine-worthy pictures, sometimes sporting the garments they have been promoting.
A lot of them have been stylists hawking their very own companies, they usually welcomed the publicity and probability to advertise their manufacturers.
‘Heartbreaking and painful’
When Suk turned to the corporate to off-load her estimated $16,000 price of designer wares final yr, a direct dialog with Brian Solis, Dora Maar’s head of style, helped to place her relaxed, as did emails with Solis and the group.
“They made it simple for me to promote my gadgets,” she mentioned — offering her with a DHL label and a set time to select them up.
Suk signed a prolonged contract a couple of month after and shipped two packing containers of clothes — together with a black Gabriela Hearst cashmere and silk costume, a Bottega Veneta poplin high, a Celine sweater and a pair of Chanel rubber rain boots — to the corporate’s Brooklyn headquarters.
Suk waited for fee, however claimed none got here.
On the finish of July 2024, Suk acquired a mass e mail from Wilson informing her that as of early August, Dora Maar would cease business operations. The Put up seen the e-mail by which Wilson wrote the choice was “extremely heartbreaking and painful for all of us.”
The founder claimed the group took part-time pay cuts within the spring and he or she had “barely taken a paycheck for over a yr.”
After an anticipated funding fell by over the summer season, the store had no selection however to shutter.
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Wilson mentioned in a message that she was happy with the group, the muses and the “relationships that have been shaped that turned greater than only a enterprise, and greater than a group,” she wrote. “It turned a DoMa household.”
Wilson additionally acknowledged that it was her accountability to attempt to make the muses “entire,” however she couldn’t assure that may occur. She requested sellers to let her know in the event that they wished their unsold gadgets returned or if she ought to attempt to promote them with one other resale platform.
The website is still live, however no merchandise can be found on the market.
Nonpayment
Suk, who nonetheless hadn’t acquired any commissions, despatched Wilson an e mail on July 30 requesting fee for 22 gadgets, which had offered for $3,626.65.
Wilson assured Suk every week later that her leftover merchandise could be shipped again.
“As for the commissions, we’re engaged on this by the closure and can observe up sooner or later,” she wrote in an e mail seen by The Put up.
Weeks later, Suk claimed she by no means acquired the cash or the garments. Worst, she claimed among the costs on her items had been closely discounted with out her consent.
In September 2024, after a number of makes an attempt at getting a response from Wilson on her excellent funds and giving her a deadline for rectifying the scenario, Suk posted a video on-line, alleging her gadgets have been “stolen,” and requested others to share their experiences.
She acquired feedback from greater than 40 girls for an estimated $25,000 in whole. Some claimed they have been invited to put money into the corporate; others claimed they have been recruited within the months or weeks earlier than Dora Maar introduced its closing.
Some offered clothes on behalf of their very own purchasers, which meant they owed cash elsewhere. One was instructed {that a} Dora Maar worker’s mom had bought her purse; one other mentioned her gadgets have been purchased by an worker.
Not one of the girls had been paid since April, they claimed — with insult added to damage as they watched Wilson submit glamorous footage from her European travels.
‘It was very alluring’
Kate Easton, an actress in New York, can also be ready to receives a commission for her gadgets. Easton, who declined to present her age, was requested to pose for a spring marketing campaign to advertise Dora Maar.
“The mutually agreed-upon phrases have been that they’d promote my luxurious gadgets and I’d obtain fee for every of my gadgets offered,” mentioned Easton, who additionally posted on Instagram about Dora Maar occasions and clothes.
Easton reached out many instances over the subsequent few months concerning the nonpayment and was ultimately instructed that the corporate was shutting down and wouldn’t be capable of pay her fee from gross sales — nor have been they capable of return her offered gadgets.
“It’s disappointing and unlucky that I used to be by no means paid for 2 of my luxurious gadgets that have been offered on their web site,” she mentioned.
“‘Predatory’ — that’s one of the best phrase I can describe for what the expertise was for me,” Clare Hardy, 39, mentioned.
Hardy added that Wilson messaged her on-line and invited her to grow to be a muse in March. Hardy, who works at a big tech conglomerate and runs a web site referred to as The Haute Girl, was simply beginning out within the luxurious resale area and was flattered that somebody of Wilson’s stature deemed her muse-worthy.
“I used to be blown away {that a} very small, brand-new creator like me would even get that kind of consideration,” Hardy mentioned. “The thought was, ‘Oh, I used to be handpicked to be a muse.’ It was very alluring.”
Courtesy Clare Hardy
She assembled about 15 gadgets, shelled out roughly $2,000 on a photograph shoot of her sporting them and despatched every little thing from her house in Atlanta to New York.
“It’s like I used to be focused as a result of I used to be a brand new creator who didn’t know what the heck she was doing,” mentioned Hardy, who has not been repaid the $4,000 she estimates she is owed. (She did obtain her unsold garments, minus an Hermès bracelet.)
Courtesy Clare Hardy
‘Emotional betrayal’
Natalia Zemliakova, a stylist in New York who declined to present her age, was additionally “found” by Dora Maar on Instagram in late March. Like different girls, she appreciated the corporate’s ethos.
“With The RealReal, it’s so impersonal,” Zemliakova mentioned. “You principally ship your garments to a warehouse, they usually don’t talk with you. They don’t inform you how a lot they may pay — you simply ship it, they usually resolve every little thing on their very own.”
Courtesy Clare Hardy
However this was completely different. Zemliakova despatched about 15 items, together with a classic Yves Saint Laurent jacket. “I warned them, ‘For those who guys promote it for an excellent low worth, simply inform me as a result of I’d reasonably preserve it,’” she mentioned.
Dora Maar appeared to grasp the emotional turmoil that usually accompanies closet evacuation, and the corporate promised to stick to her request — which, she mentioned, they did.
However she says she continues to be owed $1,000 for 3 gadgets that offered.
Courtesy Natalia Zemliakova
“It’s nearly an emotional betrayal,” Zemliakova mentioned. “They have been promoting these garments, and the one that purchased them principally paid for the factor, proper? They have been speculated to take 50 p.c, and 50 p.c goes to me. So why can’t they pay for it?”
Neither Wilson nor her lawyer, Daniel Weberman, responded to questions. Solis declined to remark.
In keeping with a report by Bain & Firm, in 2024 the worldwide secondhand luxurious items market grew to an estimated €48 billion (greater than $50 billion), outpacing the gross sales of recent luxurious items. The web second-hand market accounts for roughly 50% of the whole secondhand market. Nevertheless it’s not regulated.
John Breyault, a fraud knowledgeable with client advocacy group the Nationwide Shoppers League, mentioned it was tough to say if something unlawful occurred.
“In the event that they promised quite a lot of issues and didn’t ship on them over a sustained time frame, or they weren’t upfront about what would occur if the corporate went out of enterprise, that could possibly be one thing I’d count on an lawyer common to take a look at,” he mentioned.
Suk mentioned she was blocked by Wilson’s private account after posting the video and hopes to stop others from falling sufferer to what she referred to as an “irresponsible entrepreneur.”
“Her level to individuals was, ‘We’re a small firm, and there are dangers,’” Suk mentioned.
“No! That’s one thing you inform your traders, not your sellers. Don’t use the phrases ‘sustainability’ and ‘group’ — particularly once you’re going to finish up exploiting that group.”
