BY DANA GOODYEAR | view whole article pdf >
ANNALS OF RETAIL about Cameron Silver, owner of the Hollywood vintage clothing store Decades, which is frequented by stylists for movie stars such as Salma Hayek and Julia Roberts… Ten years ago, Cameron Silver, a former Weimar-style cabaret singer, opened a fancy vintage shop on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. On a recent good day, Silver sold a piece to Gwen Stefani. In the days immediately before that, he sold an Ossie Clark maternity dress to Julia Roberts, a Thierry Mugler dress to Chloe Sevigny and a Carven dress to Jada Pinckett Smith. “We cover a hundred years of fashion, but there is a Decades look,” Silver says. “It’s about vintage that looks modern, sexy, unstudied, and glamorous.” Silver has the soul of a popularizer, and the affect of an aesthete. He is deeply, unpretentiously polite, with an air of mischief. Blair Sabol, a former fashion writer says she can’t get him to badmouth anyone. Tells about the publicist Rachel Zoe arriving at the store at the same time as Nicole Richie’s assistants. Discusses the recent falling out between Zoe and Richie… Silver grew up in a house in Beverly Hills. His father, Jack, is a personal-injury lawyer. After studying theatre arts at U.C.L.A., Silver traveled around the country singing in theatres for small audiences. When he found a Pucci tie in Vancouver, he started buying vintage clothes and sending them to his mother. Tells about the release of Silver’s album of cabaret songs, “Berlin to Babylon.” The year after the album came out, he stopped singing and opened Decades. Silver makes friends easily, a trait that has served him well in his business. Describes how new acquaintances have given him access to collections of vintage clothing. Also discusses how wearing vintage clothing has become more common among Hollywood celebrities in the last ten years. Silver has purchased items from the collections of Catherine Deneuve and Jill St. John, among others. Writer accompanies Silver to a fund-raiser for the Louvre hosted by Becca Cason Thrash in Houston, Texas.
