Forget clearing the clutter. These New Yorkers devote entire spaces to their singular collections.
Gowns galore!
The collector:
Jean Shafiroff, 52, a philanthropist who lives on the Upper East Side
The closet: An approximately 100-square-foot room in Shafiroff’s Park Avenue apartment is stuffed with 50 evening gowns, many by designer Oscar de la Renta. An adjacent walk-in closet serves as a dressing area.
The collection: Shafiroff began gathering gowns 20 years ago from a range of designers including Oscar de la Renta, Mary McFadden, Zang Toi and Victor de Souza. “I started collecting because I needed to wear them,’’ explains Shafiroff, who serves on eight charity boards and attends galas weekly. “They chronicle the charity world in New York for a certain period.”
The gowns range from a $150 vintage 1950s number to a $298 pink ruffled Marchesa for J.C.Penney to a $10,000 black-and-purple silk Oscar de La Renta that she says she bought “in a moment of weakness.”
She even still has the red de la Renta dress that caught fire at a 2013 Sloan Kettering gala at the Metropolitan Museum when a candle on the walkway met the hem of her gown. Luckily, a guard intervened when she smelled smoke.
“[She] began stomping on my dress and saved my life!’’ says Shafiroff, who wears her formal frocks multiple times and eventually plans to donate them to a museum.
The bag lady!
The collector:
Julie Macklowe, 38, an entrepreneur with her own cosmetics line, vbeauté, who previously worked on Wall Street
The closet: A 65-square-foot wardrobe within the 7,000-square-foot Fifth Avenue apartment Macklowe shares with her husband, real estate heir Billy Macklowe, it houses her collection of Hermès handbags.
The collection: Her first Hermès bag was a saddle leather Kelly bought with her first Wall Street paycheck 14 years ago. Sadly, it was damaged soon after. “I had gone to a restaurant in Paris and a piece of overly dressed lettuce flew all over it. I went to Hermès and they said nothing could be done, but the stain would work its way into the leather over time. It did, but it took six years!” Her favorite is a rare white Himalayan Birkin. “[They’re] the holy grail of bags,’’ she says of the totes, which can cost into the six figures. “One comes across it about every five years.’’
But Macklowe, who works for many charities and raised $800,000 for VH1 Save the Music Foundation with a Hamptons event this summer, says she see her bags as investments and rarely takes them out. “You have to keep them in pristine condition, and I’m too careless.”
Sneakers from floor to ceiling!
The collector:
Joseph DeLeon, 38, lives in Harlem and works in tech
The closet: When his 100-pairs-plus sneaker collection grew out of control, DeLeon transformed an entire room in his apartment into a closet. His girlfriend, with whom he lives, had previously used the spare room as an office. “Her old desk now has shoes on it,” he says. “When we talk about marriage, she says, ‘Is this going to continue?’ ”
The collection: Favorites include $300 pink suede “Rosé’’ New Balances and Nike Air Jordan Vs. When Jordans were re-released in 2006, he bought 10 pairs to make up for the fact that he never had them as a kid. “When I was growing up my mom couldn’t afford them, but my cousin had them and flashed them in my face every day,” he says.
A lotta leather!
The collector:
Ilene Joy, 53,
whose clients include Bruce Springsteen and Sarah Jessica Parker
The closet: A 200-square-foot room in her Chelsea jewelry atelier is dedicated to her 40 leather jackets. Joy started collecting them in her 20s because, she says, “leather can cool up any outfit.”
The collection: The buttery treasure trove includes a $6,000 navy Chrome Hearts number with silver hardware, and an embroidered vintage black motorcycle jacket that she once had stolen from her. “One night [at the club Roxy in L.A.] I left it on the back of a chair, and suddenly it was gone,” says Joy. “Three months later I was backstage at a Springsteen concert and saw it draped over some equipment, so I took it. A woman came over and said it belonged to her. I told her I knew exactly how she got it. She scurried away quickly.’’
Caped crusaders!
The collector:
Ivan Wilzig, a k a “Sir Ivan,” a 59-year-old banker turned recording artist and notorious Hamptons party boy
The closet: A 150-square-foot nook in Wilzig’s 3,000-square-foot loft holds 40 custom capes. He started collecting them when he switched from banker to performer.
The collection: The outré outerwear ranges from classic silhouettes studded with Swarovski-crystal peace signs to a cape with a “wider wingspan, more ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ so dancers could be hidden underneath,” he says. Wilzig’s Chihuahua, Bambi, has a miniature version of each of his owner’s capes, and they too hang in the closet.
A sports-jacket style once caught the eye of Jamie Foxx at Mr. Chow in Miami. “He invited me to join his party,” recalls Wilzig. “When I sat down, he said ‘I want that cape.’ ’’
Wilzig’s current favorites are two tuxedo-style wraps -—one in gold lamé snakeskin and another in magenta lamé snakeskin. “They are the fanciest,’’ he says.
