The Most Famous Fashion Hoarders In History

Last weekend, we got to reading this New York Times piece on hoarding in the world of Manhattan real estate. Not a great combination, as you can probably imagine. Constance Rosenblum chronicles the unlikely intersection of homes, or even lives, destroyed by compulsive hoarding of everything from vintage furniture to old newspapers and the opportunistic vying for a prime living space with great, natural light — and it's both comical and heartbreaking.

Then we got to thinking. Mimi Turque Marre, a Broadway actress, has a particularly resonant quote in the article: “If you’re me, things have histories. I can get sentimentally attached to a dust ball if it hangs around long enough.” Sound familiar? Yeah, us too. Understandably, most people with a die-hard love of fashion are also plagued by an inability to throw away that shirt that was so cute back in eighth grade. You bought it, you loved it, it meant something — wouldn't it be a tragic disregard for time gone by, of tastes and opinions, to simply throw it away? And, doesn't everything come back in style at some point? What will your future children say when they find out you threw away those kitten heels? Such are the thoughts running through the casual hoarder's mind come cleaning day.

Collecting "stuff" is a much more common tendency than most people would care to admit. While some may have the benefit of personal shoppers, cleaners, and entire staffs of people hired to manage their precious belongings, the fashion industry is and has always been rife with collectors of a higher order. Meet 10 of the most famous fashion hoarders in history, but beware: You might get a bit jealous.