Lydia created The Collectress in 2024
from a play on words.

Collector. Collectress.

A familiar word, reclaimed in the feminine.

The traditional image of the collector — the
connoisseur, the archivist, the keeper of rare things
— has long been coded masculine.
The Collectress gives that figure a new form and
places femininity at the centre of the
archive.

She searches, studies, recognises and preserves.
She is drawn not only to rarity, but to meaning:
the piece that appeared on a runway, lived inside
a campaign, defined a character on screen, or
became part of a cultural moment.

The Collectress Vintage is an evolving
archive of rare designer fashion, runway
pieces and pop-culture history.