The Change Mariner

eBay Now A Fashion Hot Spot

San Jose Mercury News:

The online auction house once thought of as the fastest way to dump garage sale castoffs is now the place to buy and sell Jimmy Choo shoes, Salvatore Ferragamo alligator handbags and Etro coats. And this season, eBay is taking its fashion credentials further -- it will auction garments straight off the New York runways from hot young design team Proenza Schouler, six months before they hit the stores.

It all points to eBay's growing role behind the runways in the glitzy world of fashion, as a marketplace and as a no-longer-unlikely source of inspiration for some designers. With sales of $1.8 billion last year in clothes, shoes and accessories, the auction site is already all the buzz in fashion circles, and the idea of online trunk shows has some fashionistas salivating.

"I think it's genius because you can have the clothing before it arrives in all the stores. If you're a fashionista, you want things before anyone else,'' said Rosemary Ponzo, 42, a film and TV stylist who was decked out in silver Tiffany cuffs and a magenta Escada fur hat at the Catherine Malandrino show this week in New York. ``I have a lot of friends that are selling their vintage clothes, like Gaultier from the 80s and pre-owned furs.''