Picture the scene: your closet is a chaotic scramble of Gucci gowns, Louis Vuitton luggage and Dior couture - and it's making it impossible to track down that elusive Chanel ski suit for your annual trip to Gstaad. It's hardly a universal problem, but it is one that wealthy fashion-loving individuals need a solution to.
The answer? Get extra storage space and get organised, right? Not quite. How about a high security, temperature-controlled, air-purified, 24-hour-serviced vault? Welcome to the exclusive world of Vault Couture - an international London-based luxury service that lovingly tends to five-star wardrobes and offers storage, repairs and delivery for clients around the world.
The idea for Vault Couture came about when the New York business executive Ruth Barinstein ran out of closet space for her own pristine collection of designer clothing. While most women would have headed to the nearest furniture store, she decided to turn her frustrations into a business.
"Ruth had a collection of outrageously beautiful clothing and she needed someone to help make sense of them and look after them, and she realised that there were women all over the world facing the same problem," says Olesya Sanchez, Vault Couture's managing director. "We want to give you full control of your wardrobe in the palm of your hand. You are able to store it, get it delivered, get it fixed and get it styled in single click."
Those in need of a wardrobe intervention call on Sanchez's crack team to swoop in and make sense of their sartorial bounty. "We have had situations where women have got their clothes literally in piles in the basement, in the conservatory, in their children's bedrooms - literally anywhere you can imagine - because there is just no more space," says Sanchez. "Imagine piles and piles and piles of couture. These clothes are so beautiful and expensive that they need to be treated right."
After Sanchez's team has assessed the collection, the clothes are whisked to a secret address somewhere in the depths of West London. In this vast white space, an army of diligent, white-coated and white-gloved stylists get to work on cataloguing the collection in painstaking detail.
"We photograph each item from every single angle, including all the little details like stitching, darts, buttons, embroidery and pleats," explains Sanchez.
Each garment - whether bra or bridal gown - is then described with pinprick precision and assigned a barcode. "This way we can track everything," says Sanchez, whose zeal for closet organisation is positively infectious.
"Whatever you need to know - when it was worn, where it was worn, any fixes required, when it was delivered - it's all online on the account, so that can be accessed any time."
The clothes are then taken to the vault for storage, a facility that, in Sanchez's words, is deliberately created to have "laboratory-like conditions". No one is allowed to enter without protective clothing and gloves and the state-of-the-art space is humidity controlled and air-purified. Every item is stored in a breathable garment bag or wrapped in acid-free tissue and placed in a breathable box so that it can be red-carpet ready at a moment's notice.
These Louvre-worthy conditions might sound a little neurotic, but without them the system just wouldn't work. What's more, given the value and rarity of the pieces, it's no surprise that security and secrecy are highly prized.
"There are only a handful of people who have access to the vaults and the location is never revealed," says Sanchez. This tight-lipped approach extends to the company's client base. Sanchez is cagey about her clients, who were previously accepted on an invitation-only basis. She does reluctantly admit that, in the main, it is a mix of jet-setting businesswomen, celebrities and royalty from all over the world, including the Middle East.
"For us, it's not about the quantity of client, it's the quality," she says. Absolute discretion is essential: "only the administrators know the real names and real addresses of our customers".
Clients are given aliases such as "Diamond" and "Emerald", a flourish that arguably adds to the glamour of it all. There are also stylists on hand to make sense of the mountains of sartorial splendour. They can create new outfits from the existing wardrobe and help with a closet detox when required. Items that are no longer wanted can even be sold via the company's Vault Boutique.
Vault's meticulous - some might say obsessive - cataloguing system means that locating that all-important LBD from its storage facility can feasibly take less time than sifting through piles of clothes at home, even if you're located on the other side of the world. Displayed in a personal online wardrobe that can be accessed 24/7 using a personalised login and password, everything is signed, sealed and delivered with the click of an iPad app.
How quickly could they locate and a deliver a particularly cherished pair of dreary black socks from the depths of the vault?
"Between two and three minutes to locate and prepare for delivery," Sanchez answers without missing a beat. "Then it's simply a case of couriering or sending them on a private jet."
She describes her typical client as a jet-setting individual who knows what she wants, values her time, and - given that a full service costs about Dh55,000 annually - expects the very best. And Sanchez is more than happy to oblige.
When quizzed on rumours that Vault can skip the Birkin queue at Hermès, she is evasive: "If there is a very particular demand, then of course we do our best to make it happen. And we almost always make it happen."
She reels off countless times when a client has asked for a particular gown for an event just hours before walking the red carpet, and in one particularly stressful instance, when a society bride decided to switch her wedding dress just a couple of hours before walking down the aisle.
One surprise has been how enthusiastic men have been about signing up. When asked if men and women use the service differently, Sanchez laughs. "For women, it's like a museum collection … they want us to act as curators for their most treasured things. For men, things tend to be a little more functional."
She describes a businessman who wants someone to take care of all those pesky travel details, such as packing shirts, suits, ties and shoes for a trip, and would prefer to avoid buying a shirt at the last minute at duty-free. For a fee, Vault Couture will deliver everything needed to the office, the hotel or Heathrow, and then the company will collect, clean and store it until it is needed again.
While the services that Vault offers might be financially out of reach for many, those who do sign up view it as an investment, says Sanchez.
She has a point. Cataloguing possessions to ensure that you never repeat-buy that Fendi purse again can't be a bad idea. Additionally, the emphasis on repairing, maintaining and restyling treasured possessions amounts to a luxed-up "make-do-and-mend" mentality. Besides, given the serious financial and emotional investment required to build these wardrobes, why shouldn't they be curated as seriously as a collection of art?
How to store your clothes
Heat and humidity Clothing should be stored between 20 to 22°C and humidity should always be between 50 to 55 per cent. If clothes are constantly exposed to higher humidity, stains may start to develop.
Protection When storing your clothes, protect them from humidity by using muslin or acid-free paper. As well, store them in acid-free boxes or breathable covers, and always use mothballs to protect them from insects.
Sunlight Your clothes should be stored in the dark. Direct sunlight all year round will most likely decolour them; that said, it's good to expose your clothes to sunlight and fresh air every now and then.
Time Reorganising your wardrobe can take several hours and should not be done at different stages, so try to dedicate one full day to this activity.
Be careful Not every item can be hung. It is best to fold materials such as jersey, otherwise it will lose shape over time.
Old season Store away all the items of the past season. Wash and dryclean everything before storing it.
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