Everytime we’ve styled a full Cavalli look, we got the question, “wait can I get the boots too?”

We opened up our styling closet and got to thinking… how can we give you sick vintage outfits on repeat, and the insane collectible shoes to match? So we visited our partners across the globe.

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These pieces have become some of the most sought after vintage finds but don't worry, we’re here to make it easier to wear your favorite pieces. Before we get into it though, let’s talk about the lore that is Mandalay...

Mandalay was founded by designer Glenn Kay and quickly became synonymous with the sexy glamour that defined so much of early-2000s fashion. Think body-con silhouettes, floral stitching, intricate sequins and beaded embroidery.

Mandalay quickly became a fav among celebs, appearing on red carpets, magazines, and in pop culture moments that have become our favorite source of fashion inspiration.

What makes the brand especially fun to revisit now is how distinctly of-the-era it feels while somehow feeling completely of the moment again. The silhouettes, the embellishments, the sexiness, all of it feels very much in line with the current obsession with rediscovering Y2K fashion.

So naturally, we couldn’t resist bringing Mandalay into Isle of Monday, giving you the chance to wear some of the most iconic looks:

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The last time he was a hot topic was his announcement of a new creative partnership with Zara.

So today let’s talk about one of the most influential, and controversial, designers in fashion history.

Galliano completely redefined fashion, and what a runway show could be.

After graduating from Central Saint Martins in 1984, his collections quickly earned critical acclaim, but behind the scenes, he struggled financially.

After missing a season due to financial problems, he returned with his Spring/Summer 1994 collection, Princess Lucretia, which would become a turning point in his career and was later described as “a watershed moment in modern fashion history.” But behind the scenes, he was still struggling financially.

Everything changed when Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and European editor for Vanity Fair André Leon Talley helped connect him with the backing he needed to save his career.

Talley introduced him to a Parisian socialite who lent Galliano her 18th-century Parisian hotel as the venue for his Fall/Winter 1994 show.

With just weeks to create the collection, Galliano worked with a single bolt of black fabric. Manolo Blahnik even made the shoes at no cost, and some of fashion’s biggest models, including Carla Bruni, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington, walked for him for free.

The result became one of the most legendary runway shows in fashion history.

Then in 1995, Galliano was appointed as head designer of Givenchy; making him the first British designer to head a French couture house, before taking over Dior in October 1996.

Galliano’s years at Dior produced some of the most unforgettable runway moments, and most coveted collections, the industry has ever seen.

Think the Fall/Winter 2000 collection, with its instantly recognizable newspaper print, or the Spring/Summer 2004 collection and its iconic Dior Trotter monogram, designs that continue to define fashion more than two decades later.

Now, with John Galliano: Horizons set as the 2027 Met Gala theme, Galliano’s legacy is back at the center of the conversation.

But the exhibition won’t shy away from the more complicated parts of his legacy. Alongside his extraordinary creative achievements, Horizons will examine the controversy that reshaped his career and public image, raising a larger question about how we reconcile an artist’s creative contributions with their actions and accountability.

Perhaps that’s what makes this Met Gala so compelling: it isn’t just a celebration of Galliano’s most iconic work, but a chance to reckon with the full story behind it.

So, when the red carpet arrives, which archival Galliano piece do you hope to see?

While they’re a viral moment, they’re also reminder of one of the 90s most influential designers. Long before maximalism became synonymous with bold, colorful dressing, Oldham had already built an entire world around it.

If you’ve ever watched The Nanny, you’re already familiar with one of the most iconic American designers of the ‘90s and thanks to one of our partners, the talented Gabriel Held, we have quite the collection on our platform.

Todd Oldham burst onto the New York fashion scene in the late ‘80s and became famous for doing the exact opposite of minimalism. While everyone else was embracing sleek neutrals, Oldham was creating fearless color, intricate beadwork, patchwork, embroidery, and maximalist silhouettes that felt like wearable art.

He won the CFDA Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent in 1991 and quickly became one of the defining designers of the decade.

Some of his most memorable collections include his Spring 1993 “Fair” collection inspired by the Texas State Fair, the richly embellished Fall 1994 “Daniella Boone” collection (as seen on Mary Beth Barone from us earlier this year), and our personal favorite part of our collection: his vibrant Spring 1995 runway, all celebrating craftsmanship, color, and pure joy.

But his biggest pop culture moment? The Nanny. Fran Fine regularly wore Todd Oldham’s rainbow-bright suits, beaded dresses, and playful tailoring, helping cement both the show, and Oldham himself, as fashion icons of the ‘90s.

Today, his archival pieces are some of the most sought-after vintage finds, inspiring a new generation of collectors and proving that maximalism never really goes out of style.

So next time you want to wear a truly iconic piece of fashion history, think of Todd Oldham and head to Isle of Monday as we continue to celebrate his legacy of wearable art.

And stay tuned… more Todd Oldham coming to Isle of Monday very soon. Subscribe to see what’s next ;)

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To understand why “Cavalli Summer” has taken over the internet, you have to understand Roberto Cavalli himself. At a time when fashion often leaned toward restraint, Cavalli embraced the bold. More print. More texture. More glamour. Louder. Bolder. More confident.

Before Cavalli became synonymous with leopard print and celebrity glamour, he changed the way prints were made. After spending the 1960s observing Italy’s legendary silk printers, he developed a groundbreaking technique that allowed patterns to be printed across an entire garment, interrupted only by seams and embellishments. The process became known as Stampa Cavalli, and it transformed print from a surface detail into the foundation of the design itself.

He didn’t stop there. In 1969, he adapted the technique for leather, an innovation that was virtually unheard of at the time. His printed leather gowns and swimsuits debuted in Paris in 1970, followed by patchworked leather, embellished stretch denim, printed jeans, sandblasted denim, and, eventually, the animal prints that would become one of fashion’s most recognizable signatures.

For Roberto Cavalli, print was never an afterthought, it was the collection. Leopard, florals, serpents, zebra, and tiger prints became an unmistakable design language. Every pattern felt undeniably Cavalli.

Fashion has always moved in cycles, but Cavalli’s return feels different. The current obsession isn’t just about Y2K nostalgia or maximalism. It’s about rediscovering a designer who believed getting dressed should be joyful. That glamour wasn’t something to tone down, but something to lean into.

At Isle of Monday, Roberto Cavalli remains one of our most-rented designers. From his iconic Baroque print and tattoo motifs to vibrant florals and the animal prints that defined an era. One thing we know for sure… Cavalli-maxxing is here to stay.

A question we get asked all the time is whether it’s risky for a garment like this to be rented. It’s a fair question. What if a few beads come loose? What if there’s a small stain? How are repairs handled? The truth is, what matters most isn’t whether a piece is rented, it’s how it’s cared for between every wear.

Today, we’re going to walk through how we care for some of the most archival pieces on our platform.

A dress like this isn’t tossed into a washing machine or taken to your average dry cleaner. In fact, everyday stain removers, standard dry cleaning, or even rubbing the fabric with a paper towel can permanently damage delicate silk, illusion mesh, and crystal embellishments.

Instead, every garment is individually evaluated by couture preservation specialists. For this Versace, they assess the silk, the illusion mesh, every crystal, and every bead before deciding the safest cleaning method and reinforcing anything that needs repair. If anything needs attention, it’s reinforced or repaired before the dress ever goes back into circulation.

If a stain does happen, it’s never treated with a quick spot clean. The entire garment is professionally wet-cleaned by hand using cold water and preservation-grade cleaning solutions in a controlled environment. Every step is done gently by hand, from washing to rinsing to air drying. It’s never machine washed, wrung out, twisted, or tumble dried, because every decision is made with the long-term preservation of the garment in mind.

How a piece is stored is just as important as how it’s cleaned. When this gown isn’t with a customer, it’s kept in a breathable natural-fiber cotton or muslin garment bag, never plastic.

At the time, we were quietly building a company around that exact question: an entirely new way of accessing fashion history.

This week, after months of building in beta, we’ve officially launched Isle of Monday: the first on-demand, publicly available rental platform for women’s luxury vintage and archival fashion.

What began as a small collection of rare vintage pieces has evolved into a growing archive of designer fashion history - one that is finally becoming accessible outside of insider circles, celebrity closets, and private collections.

For years, the most extraordinary vintage pieces lived behind gates: stored in archives, traded privately between collectors, pulled only for celebrities, or priced so high that most people could never realistically wear them.

We believed there had to be another way: not ownership, but access. A way to let these garments continue living the lives they were made for.

So over the last six months, we built Isle of Monday in beta alongside all of you. More than 30,000 people signed up for early access while we intentionally kept the platform gated, testing operations, refining logistics, improving fit transparency, and learning how people actually wanted to shop vintage online.

This week, we officially opened Isle of Monday to the public.

No waitlist to browse. No account required to explore. Just an open archive of rare vintage fashion, available to discover, rent, and wear.

And with launch, we’re unlocking hundreds of new arrivals across designers like Roberto Cavalli, Dior by Galliano, Vivienne Westwood, Prada, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana, Pucci, Versace, and more.

Some pieces carry runway history.
Some were worn by cultural icons.
Others are unsigned vintage finds we simply fell in love with because of how they make someone feel when they wear them.

To us, vintage has never been about trend cycles.
It’s about individuality, craftsmanship, memory, and emotion.

In a world where fashion increasingly feels mass-produced and algorithmically optimized, vintage remains one of the last truly personal forms of dressing. If everyone walked into the same room wearing Isle of Monday, nobody would look alike.

Launch also marks a major evolution of the platform itself.

Everything we built was shaped directly by beta user feedback.

We introduced a new “Will this fit?” sizing module designed specifically for vintage, helping customers understand how garments are likely to fit their bodies before renting. Vintage sizing has varied drastically across eras and designers, so we built fit transparency directly into the experience.

We added waitlists for one-of-one pieces, wishlists to save dream garments, smarter filtering by occasion and designer, improved categorization based on how people actually get dressed, and clearer rental guidance throughout the site.

But this launch is about more than product updates.

It’s about what fashion access can become.

We believe the future of luxury is shifting away from ownership alone and toward experience, individuality, and circulation.

Vintage deserves to be worn.
Not hidden away in storage.
Not locked inside private archives.
Not accessible only to celebrities or collectors.

The most beautiful garments ever made should continue creating memories.

And this is only the beginning.

By the end of this year, Isle of Monday will house thousands of vintage pieces alongside new technology experiences designed specifically for archival fashion: event-first discovery, virtual try-on, stylist tools, personalization, and more.

But no matter how much we grow, the heart of Isle of Monday will remain the same:
making rare fashion feel personal, emotional, and accessible.

To everyone who signed up early, rented from us, sent feedback, shared the platform with friends, visited the showroom, or simply believed in this idea before it fully existed — thank you.

You helped shape Isle of Monday into what it is today.

And we genuinely believe we’re just getting started.

Welcome in.

xx Gabriella & Janelle

Founders, Isle of Monday

It’s still our office.
Still our fulfillment center.
Still where everything gets packed, shipped, and organized.

But now it also feels like a home for Isle of Monday, all of it existing in one place, overlapping in a way that just makes sense. There’s something different about working, styling, packing orders, and meeting customers all under the same roof. It’s less segmented, more fluid. Everything feeds into each other.

The showroom has really shifted the energy in a way that’s hard to replicate online.

People come in for fittings, trying on pieces they’ve been eyeing online or discovering something completely new once it’s actually on their body. There’s a moment that happens when something just clicks, and we get to be there for it, adjusting, pulling alternates, building looks in real time. The magic made once a vintage Cavalli gown is on your body, well, it’s indescribable.

Shopping appointments have started to feel a lot more collaborative. It’s less about coming in, choosing something, and heading out, and more about spending time, trying things on, talking through ideas, and figuring out what actually feels right on you.

We’ve also started hosting small community events here. Nothing overly formal, just nights where our community can come through, spend time in the space, and be around the clothes in a more natural way. It’s been really nice to see people connect with each other the same way they connect with the pieces.

And then there’s the more practical side of it. Having a physical home for our inventory has changed everything. Being able to see everything in one place, move pieces around, style them, and live with them a bit before they go out into the world. It’s made the collection feel more intentional, and honestly, more alive.

The space is still evolving (very much so). Furniture moves around, racks shift, and new dog beds are delivered. It’s safe to say things are coming together slowly. But that’s kind of the point; it’s growing alongside us.

It already feels like a core part of what Isle of Monday is becoming. Not just a platform, a place.

If you’ve been meaning to come by, this is your sign. We’ll be here :)

Book a Showroom Appointment Here!

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A question we get all the time is: how do you decide what pieces are worth sourcing and investing in?

The short answer is instinct, research, and being chronically online. The longer answer is that sourcing for a rental archive sits somewhere between trend awareness, gut instinct, and understanding what people actually want to wear. The biggest advantage Janelle and I have is we are our consumers.

Being Chronically Online

A huge part of sourcing is simply paying attention. We’re constantly looking at runway coverage, resale platforms, vintage archives, and what editors are reporting. Right now, fashion is clearly swinging away from the ultra-minimal quiet luxury moment and back toward expressive dressing: bold color, dramatic silhouettes, and pieces that actually make a statement. This is why houses like Roberto Cavalli and Emilio Pucci feel especially relevant. Maximalist prints and saturated color palettes never really go away, but they definitely come in waves. For spring and summer in particular, they always come back strong.

At the same time, we’re very aware that fashion is having a Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy moment. Her minimalist, perfectly tailored aesthetic - clean slip dresses, simple coats, sharp tailoring - is everywhere again and we love to see it.

While those pieces will always have value, we’ve found our customer would rather own them than rent them. If you find the perfect black coat or slip dress, it’s something you want to live in for years, not just borrow for a weekend. Because of that, they show up less frequently on our platform.

That said, there are always exceptions. A Tom Ford for Gucci moment is one we will always chase, and something we’re actively adding more of to the platform.

Rental tends to work best when a piece feels a little more special. Something you might not necessarily buy for yourself, but absolutely want to wear to a party, a vacation, or a big night out.

We Are Literally Our Customer

One of the biggest advantages we have when sourcing is that we’re not just guessing what people want to wear. We are the people who want to wear these clothes. The pieces that make it onto our platform are usually the ones we’re personally obsessed with.

If something makes me stop scrolling, immediately send it to Janelle (sorry for blowing you up all the time) or start hunting for it across resale sites, that’s usually a pretty good indicator it will rent well. A lot of sourcing honestly starts that way: a moment where I think, “wait … I need to find this immediately.”

The Practicalities of Sourcing for Rental

There is also the less glamorous side of sourcing that people do not always think about. Not every beautiful garment works in a rental system. We look closely at fabrication, construction, durability, and condition. Pieces need to survive wear, cleaning, and multiple customers, so strong fabrics and well-constructed vintage tend to perform best.

A lot of our pieces are deadstock, which is amazing because they have never been worn and the condition is near perfect. If we bring in something more delicate, like a sheer piece or ultra-light silk, it usually sits at a higher rental price point simply because the level of care required is different.

All of those factors play a role in what we bring onto the platform. There is significant financial modeling and data behind what we do, but it’s also somewhat of an art. But the final filter is pretty simple. We ask ourselves one question: would someone be excited to wear this?

If the answer is yes and the piece feels special, collectible, and relevant, I usually just go with my gut. She hasn’t led me astray yet.

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Now for a little preview of new pieces landing this Spring, covering bright colors to true CBK simplicity.

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The moderator strangely enough did not ask me what I was wearing, but I’m going to tell you all anyway. I sported our 90s Mugler jumpsuit, archived by one of our fantastic consignors Farmer’s Daughter. Highly recommended if you want to look a little c*nty at your next corporate event.

One of the first questions was where we all are in our “AI journey.” The honest answer, for most companies, is somewhere between experimenting and figuring out what’s actually useful. Despite the hype, adoption is messy. Everyone is testing tools, comparing models, and trying to understand what’s useful versus what’s hype. For us, we’re an early stage startup, so we can embed AI into our business from day 1. From automating internal processes (like onboarding thousands of vintage pieces) to improving productivity of employees, we’re definitely taking advantage of new technology.

For us, the most interesting opportunities are on the customer side: things like size, fit, and personalization that help you find the right vintage piece faster and sets expectations for how it’s going to look on your unique body through machine learning models. We’re focused on thoughtfully embedding AI into your experience to make it easier, without tarnishing the character and personality that vintage shopping offers.

Specifically, when it comes to marketing, we’re still betting on authenticity over AI-generated social media content. The internet already feels pretty synthetic. And personally, I’d rather lean into showing you all wearing our iconic pieces than an ai-generated model.

Another theme that came up: many founders are already using AI without really thinking about it. It’s embedded in so many tools now that the bigger challenge isn’t access- it’s learning how to work with it effectively. One idea I shared with the audience: treat AI like an extremely smart, Ivy-educated, junior employee. She’s fast, capable, never tired, her back doesn’t hurt after a long day, but she doesn’t quite know your business yet. The more context you give her, the more she helps your company succeed.

Also- a thought for the future: founders are already thinking about AEO (Answer Engine Optimization). If someone asks ChatGPT for the best vintage rental brand, we’d ideally like Isle of Monday to show up.

Preferably right next to Mugler.

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Valentino did not chase fashion. He carved out his own space within it, where color, cut, and restraint worked together as quiet forms of power. Born in Voghera and trained in Paris, he returned to Rome in 1960 to establish his fashion house with a clear point of view. His work was grounded in discipline and emotion - guided by proportion, fabric, and an intimate understanding of the female body. He designed slowly and deliberately, with a respect for craft that never wavered.

His vision of elegance was unmistakable. Valentino Red became one of the most recognizable signatures in fashion history, a shade that carried confidence, desire, and authority. It stood apart on runways and red carpets, offering drama through restraint and presence without noise.

Valentino dressed queens, first ladies, and screen icons, from Jacqueline Kennedy to Elizabeth Taylor to Audrey Hepburn. Yet his work was never about status. A Valentino dress offered certainty. It allowed the woman wearing it to feel composed, assured, and complete. The clothes did not ask for attention. They held it. There was strength in their softness and power in their palette.

As fashion grew faster and louder, Valentino remained devoted to couture and technique. He understood that beauty takes time and that refinement matters. When he retired in 2008, he left behind more than a fashion house. He left a standard rooted in craft, restraint, and emotional clarity.

At Isle of Monday, we return often to designers like Valentino, not for nostalgia, but for clarity. His work reminds us that taste is built slowly, through care and discipline. Trends will pass. Taste, as Valentino defined it, remains.

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We co-hosted a post-podcast gathering with Fashion & Founders, opening up our showroom to an intimate group of women in NYC who listened to our December episode to ask questions, share stories, and connect. What began as a casual Q&A quickly turned into something much bigger: an honest, collaborative conversation about fashion, business, and what women actually want from the vintage landscape.

The questions kicked things off simply enough.

• How did you get into fashion?

• What advice do you have for pivoting into the industry with little to no experience

• How do you build a brand from scratch, especially if you’re not going viral?

From there, the conversation evolved organically. We talked about what women want to see more of in vintage: realistic price ranges, thoughtful business models, and brands that understand how vintage fits into everyday life. We discussed the idea of renting vintage not just for special occasions, but for every day, because getting dressed should feel special even when nothing “special” is happening.

We also touched on something that comes up far more often than people admit: imposter syndrome. The ever-present feeling that you don’t quite belong, even when you’re the one who built the thing in the first place. Talking about it openly, in a room full of women nodding along, reminded us how universal that feeling really is, and how powerful it can be to name it together.

What started as an opportunity for Isle of Monday to meet our community quickly became a mutually beneficial exchange. Ideas were shared, perspectives challenged, and feedback offered thoughtfully and generously. It reaffirmed something we’ve always believed and often say: we’re not building for our consumer, we’re building with her.

After the conversation wrapped, the showroom opened up fully. Women introduced themselves, networked with one another, tried on pieces, and bonded over a shared love of vintage clothing. Some even left with vintage rentals in hand, same day, in person, exactly as the space was meant to be used.

More than anything, the night reminded us why community matters so much to what we’re building.

This was our first community event, but it certainly won’t be our last. We’re so grateful to everyone who showed up, asked thoughtful questions, and helped make the night what it was. We can’t wait to keep building together.

Every time we post a fully vintage matching set (same designer, same era, clearly meant to exist together) it goes viral. We don’t push it harder than anything else. We don’t explain it to death. It just gets picked up.

People save it. They send it to friends. The comment section turns into requests to leave our windows open at night, posts like “not a want, a need” or Carrie Bradshaw GIFs of her in utter shock.

It doesn’t even matter if the pieces were shown together originally in campaigns or the runway. What matters is that they speak the same language now.

The SS 2003 Roberto Cavalli patchwork pieces are a good example. Skirt, blouse, boots. The patchwork itself is unmistakably that season. Even if each piece had its own life back then, together they feel right. Like they’ve been waiting to be reunited.

Same with the FW 1999 Cavalli horse print: skirt, cardigan, boots. The print does most of the talking, but the impact comes from seeing it all at once. It stops being “a great vintage piece” and starts being a moment that people are desperate to wear.

I think people respond to that completeness. So much of what we see now is styled around an idea. References stacked on references. When a vintage set shows up intact, or close to it, there’s nothing to decode. No styling puzzle. No explanation required. It also doesn’t feel nostalgic in the way people expect vintage to feel. It feels current, confident, and sometimes a little confrontational, even, because it’s so different from the fast fashion we’ve all become accustomed to. Or maybe, for some, it’s a relief. One styling decision instead of five. A full thought instead of a fragment.

Which makes me curious about what’s next.

If history is any indication, when those show up as full moments on our page, the response will be the same. An immediate accumulation of vintage-lovers going off in the comments. Because matching sets don’t really need a pitch.

What prints should we source multiple of next? See what’s on our mind…

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It’s our office.
It’s our fulfillment center.
And now it’s also our showroom, by appointment only.

We wanted a space where you can actually try pieces on, see how they fit, and decide what feels right. The showroom works like a rental suite, so you can come in to try things on and either take something home the same day or schedule a rental for later. Low pressure, very straightforward.

How the Showroom Works

We split appointments into two types, mostly to make sure the experience makes sense depending on what you’re coming in to see.

Standard Showroom Appointments are for pieces with a market value under $3k. The appointment is $75, which if you decide to rent, will be credited toward your rental. Your first standard appointment is 50% off.

This is where you’ll find a mix of designer and unsigned vintage pieces that are special but wearable: Gucci Tom Ford blouses, early 2000s Cavalli denim, Pucci sets, Vivienne Westwood tops, a Chanel midi, a Miu Miu mini, Mandalay suiting, vintage coats, and gowns that work really well for weddings and events.

Archive Showroom Appointments are for our archival, standout designer pieces, typically with a resale value around or above $3k. These are the pieces you book for when you have something specific coming up: a big event, a wedding, or when you’re looking for the look rather than just browsing. Brides, this one’s definitely for you. The appointment is $250 and also goes toward your rental.

Come Say Hi

We’re genuinely excited to start seeing customers in person. After doing so much online, it feels nice to finally have a place where we can slow things down, meet you in person, and share the joy of being surrounded by insane vintage.

The space itself is very much in progress. We’re decorating slowly and figuring it out as we go. Some of the furniture is currently borrowed from our own apartments, and a contractor is coming on Monday to update the kitchen, which feels like a big milestone for a room that’s.. been doing its best. She’s definitely cute, but there’s a lot of improvements to come!

A Little More for the Community

Outside of the showroom, we want this space (and this Substack) to be a way to bring our community closer into what we’re doing. That includes seeing inventory before it goes live and having more of a say in what we source.

You can now become a paid Substack subscriber and get:

• Skip-the-waitlist access for beta + 10% off your first order (we’ll reach out once you subscribe!)

• First look at new inventory, with the chance to help guide sourcing

• Early access to rent new pieces and priority for community events

More soon, but for now, we can’t wait to welcome you into the space and meet you IRL! And now, for some new inventory..

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For everyone on our waitlist, here’s how it works:

• When it’s your turn to join, you’ll receive an email notification.

• Our gated login system ensures that only users granted access with a waitlist email can sign in.

• Once signed in, you’ll be able to browse our curated collection, reserve one-of-one pieces, and explore rentals in 4, 8, 12, or 24-day increments.

During beta, we’re focusing on experience and feedback. You’ll notice features like detailed garment stories, clear rental options, and a streamlined checkout flow, all designed to make interacting with these rare pieces seamless. And because it’s beta, your thoughts matter more than ever: we’re listening closely, iterating, and improving in real time.

Launching beta isn’t just about opening a platform. It’s about breathing life back into the archive, giving garments that have been waiting for a new stage the chance to be worn, celebrated, and remembered.

For those of you still waiting for your turn, don’t worry, it’s coming. Everyone on the waitlist will get access eventually, and when it’s your turn, you’ll get an email letting you know. In the meantime, we’ll be sharing highlights, favorite pieces, and stories from the collection so you can get inspired and excited for when you join.

Here’s a peek at a few of our current favorites:

Thank you for your patience, your enthusiasm, and your trust. We couldn’t have gotten here without you.

So go ahead. Log in when it’s your turn, explore the collection, and experience Isle of Monday for yourself. We can’t wait to see this journey continue, together.

Building something like this isn’t easy. It’s messy, it’s unpredictable, and some days it feels like a million things are standing between a good idea and reality. We’ve spent hours sourcing garments, talking to consigners, coordinating with dealers, and figuring out how to make one-of-one fashion move through a platform that didn’t exist until we built it. Every challenge has come with a lesson, and every lesson has brought us closer to this moment.

We wouldn’t be here without our community of early believers. The 20,000 people on our waitlist, the consigners who trusted us with their treasured garments, the wholesale dealers who opened their archives to us, and the teams of people working tirelessly behind the scenes. You’ve all been part of this journey. You’ve shared your time, your trust, and your insight. And every single bit of it has made Isle of Monday stronger, smarter, and more thoughtful.

We’re especially grateful for the garments themselves. Each piece has a history, a story, and a personality that guided how we built the platform. They’ve been our teachers, our inspiration, and, at times, our gentle reminders that what we’re creating isn’t just a platform, it’s a way to preserve and circulate culture.

As we get ready to open beta next week, we want to acknowledge that this is as much yours as it is ours. Every click, every rental, every piece that finds a new life through the platform is a continuation of this journey we’ve shared with you from day one.

Thank you for believing in the vision, for being patient with the process, and for helping us bring the archive back to life. We can’t wait to share the first glimpse of Isle of Monday with you, and to see where this journey goes next.

We’re thrilled to announce that Isle of Monday’s beta is officially launching on December 1st, and for the first time, our community will get to see what we’ve been building behind the scenes. If you’ve been on our waitlist, here’s what you can expect, and how to know when it’s your turn to join.

How Beta Will Work

Beta isn’t the full platform yet. It’s a first glimpse of what we’ve been working on, designed to test, learn, and refine. We’re starting small, with a few hundred users, and rolling access out gradually to our full waitlist of 20,000 people. That means everyone who signed up for early access will eventually get a chance to join, but it won’t be all at once.

When it’s your turn, you’ll receive an email notification letting you know. Our platform has a gated login system, so only users granted access with a waitlisted email will be able to sign in. If you try to log in before your turn, you’ll see a friendly message letting you know it’s not yet your time.

What to Expect on the Platform

Once you’re in, here’s a peek at what you’ll experience during beta:

• Curated, one-of-one garments: Each piece comes with its story, where it came from, what vintage brand sourced it (if consigned), and the era it represents.

• Flexible rental periods: We start with 4, 8, and 12-day rental options, with pricing calculated based on the market value of the piece and its unique features.

• Thoughtful UX: The platform is designed to make browsing, selecting, and reserving garments as seamless as possible. Beta users will experience on-demand vintage rentals that make shopping vintage feel as easy as shopping new.

• Feedback loops: Your input matters. Beta is a two-way street, and your thoughts will directly shape how the platform evolves before full launch.

Why We’re Rolling Out Beta

Beta allows us to test the experience in real conditions, make improvements based on your feedback, and ensure that when the platform opens fully, it feels effortless. It’s also a chance for our community to experience Isle of Monday first, before anyone else, and help us shape what’s next.

We can’t wait for you to see the platform, try the garments, and help us re-circulate these iconic pieces as a vintage-obsessed community. Your turn is coming soon: keep an eye on your inbox, and you might just get a key to Isle of Monday’s archive.

When we think about pricing at Isle of Monday, it comes down to a few key things: value, rarity, and respect for the piece itself.

• Value: What does this garment mean to the community that will wear it? Not just in a monetary sense but culturally. A piece that defined a runway era, or carries a story from a brand archive, has a resonance beyond the fabric, whose designer is retired. Our goal is to set a price that honors that resonance, without making it feel untouchable.

• Rarity: Some garments are completely unique; others are part of very limited collections. The rarer it is, the more we think about how to position it so people can access it responsibly, without diminishing its exclusivity.

• Respect: We want to make sure both the consigners who trust us with their pieces and the brands whose archives we work with feel that their garments are being handled with care. Pricing is a reflection of that care. It’s never arbitrary.

Here’s how it actually works on the platform: we’re kicking off our platform with three rental periods from which you can choose: 4, 8, and 12 days. Each rental period is calculated as a percentage of the garment’s market value, which we determine by aggregating current and past listings of similar pieces– either the exact same garment or one from the same collection with comparable design and scarcity.

On top of that, the composition and design of the garment also affect pricing. Is it delicate? Does it have a train? Is it mid-length or long? These factors influence both the care it requires and the rental experience itself, and they’re baked into the final price.

We think of pricing not just as a number, but as a reflection of thoughtfulness and intentionality. It balances the story of the piece, its rarity, and the experience of wearing it. The goal isn’t just to assign a value; it’s to create a system that respects fashion history, supports our consigners and partners, and gives our community access to garments like never before.

Sourcing for Isle of Monday is where fashion-first FBI work meets networking and insane organization. At IOM, we are hyper-focused on finding garments that fit into our curation thesis and telling the story of that garment to our audience.

We source globally, but we don’t just chase trends or buy what’s easy. Every piece we bring into the platform is intentional, whether it’s from a branded consigner who’s kept a collection pristine for decades, or a wholesale dealer with access to brand archives that otherwise sit untouched.

Consigners are the heart of our collection. These are vintage collectors who entrust us with their one-of-one pieces. Some have been holding on to garments for decades, preserving them carefully. Others are more recent finds, rescued from closets or boxes that were never meant to see the light of day. We work closely with every consigner to understand the stories behind their pieces: how they were worn, where they came from, why they matter. That history becomes part of the rental experience, and it’s what makes each item feel alive when it leaves our hands and enters yours.

Then there are our wholesale dealers: partners with access to archives and deadstock inventory from fashion houses, defunct designer vaults, sample warehouses, and high-net-worth individuals that might otherwise never circulate. These are the pieces that defined an era, but now sit in storage, out of reach for most. By connecting with dealers who curate these archives responsibly, we can bring these garments back into rotation without diminishing their rarity or their value.

We don’t just buy or borrow - we build relationships. Each connection, each consigner, each dealer, helps us maintain a thoughtful approach. We’re sourcing with intention, asking ourselves: does this garment tell a story? Does it deserve to be reintroduced? Will it inspire?

And yes, we do this globally. From Europe to Asia to the U.S., our sourcing spans continents. But it’s never indiscriminate. We travel, research, and communicate constantly, making sure that every acquisition aligns with the ethos of Isle of Monday. This isn’t about volume; it’s about curating a meaningful, one-of-a-kind collection that feels cohesive, considered, and alive.

What we can tell you: these garments are special, the relationships behind them are invaluable, and every piece we source is part of a bigger vision. One day soon, you’ll get to see these garments for yourself. And until then, know that the wait is intentional- because these aren’t just clothes. They’re history preserved, waiting for you.

We recently shared that our beta platform is coming soon, but how soon, and what does beta even mean? While we’re not going to tell you today the exact date we launch (we will soon!), we want to give you some overdue clarity.

In a product or tech context, “beta” refers to a stage in development where a product or service is almost ready for public use but is still being tested. It’s typically released to a limited audience outside the core development team to:

1. Identify bugs or issues that weren’t caught internally.

2. Test usability and experience in real-world conditions.

3. Gather feedback to improve the product before a full launch.

TLDR, a beta…

• Is not final: some features may change, and occasional glitches are expected.

• Gives early access: if you’re on a waitlist, at some point you’ll be granted access to a platform’s beta, giving you direct influence over the development of the platform.

• Mitigates risk: Companies use beta releases to refine the product before a wider release.

For Isle of Monday, this means our 20,000 waitlist members will receive early access to the beta on a rolling basis. We’ll start with a small group of a few hundred users and gradually expand until everyone on the waitlist has the opportunity to join. When it’s your turn, you’ll get an email notification. Our platform includes a gated login system tied to your waitlist email, so only users granted access can sign in. If you try to log in before your turn, you’ll see a message letting you know it’s not yet time. Once you’re signed in, you can explore the platform, rent our curated garments, and provide feedback that shapes the final experience, all before it’s open to everyone.

This build - from integrating strong feedback loops to customizing the rental engine for single-sku garments to digitally archiving our inventory - takes time, hence the wait.

What we can tell you: the wait is almost over, and the holidays are going to be chicer than ever.