Archival fashion reached something of a fever pitch in the last year. Intrepid stylists cast a wide net to outfit everyone from Kendall Jenner in body-contouring ’90s Mugler for a turn on the step and repeat to Hailey Bieber in slinky jewel-tone Gucci just bopping about New York. Some deep cut vintage moments make you truly catch your breath, but how many more are preserved in amber in private collections or accessible only to the stars and the monied? And accessing them for the everyday person?

Isle of Monday is what founders Janelle Gray and Gabriella Carota describe as a first-of-its-kind vintage rental platform. Standout pieces on the platform, from a quick peruse, include Roberto Cavalli runway gowns worn by Ashanti and Aaliyah, an Alaïa “Mon Cœur est à Papa” mini worn by Naomi Campbell and The Nanny’s Fran Drescher, Clueless-featured Anna Sui, Carrie Bradshaw’s Fendi, and plenty of archival Dior by John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood corsetry from the late ’90s and early 2000s. It currently operates through a hybrid of owned and consigned inventory, with a suite of collaborators including vintage dealer Gabriel Held. Building on the foundations of Rent the Runway and Nuuly, services that paved the way for fashion access beyond the ideas of ownership and consumption, Isle of Monday offers a unique take, unlocking the archives and democratizing designer vintage in one neat place.

For Carota, her own vintage obsession began with a Betsy Johnson dress she found while thrifting in 2016. A later defining moment for Gray—and business catalyst—was finding a spring-summer 2003 Roberto Cavalli gown to wear to a wedding, which, once posted online, provoked a storm among friends desperate to borrow it. So far, they’ve dressed Avantika (in ’00s Ralph Lauren), Paige Lorenze (in Pucci), Alex Cooper, and Gabby Windey (and had Zara Larsson, Sabrina Carpenter, and Lana Del Rey on the line), worked with stylists including Mimi Cuttrell (Bella Hadid, Alix Earle) and Kat Typaldos (Caroline Polachek, Nia DaCosta), who was among the first on the platform. Typaldos dressed Mary Beth Barone in an archival Todd Oldham dress for the Golden Globes via Isle of Monday.

“I love working with designer vintage archives like Isle Of Monday because I know I will be in the company of people who are obsessed with details and storytelling,” Typaldos says. “I love the ethos around wearing vintage, proactively being sustainable as well as inheriting some energetic swag or glamour from those who inhabited the piece before you.” There’s also a spirit of collectiveness in vintage—whether curating, sourcing, or selling on—that feels cleaved from the individualist mindset fast (and fast-ish) fashion demands. Prices generally range from $65 for smaller items like a Betsey Johnson dress to upwards of $1,600 for a Roberto Cavalli gown (which would cost you around $25,000 at market).

Vintage rental is a fragmented market—some of the best vintage designer pieces are cloistered away in private archives, only available for eye-watering auction prices, or kept solely for celebrity red carpet moments. “We talk about democratizing archival fashion,” says Gray. “It’s not about making rare fashion feel diluted or less special—it’s about expanding access in a way that still honors the integrity of the garment and the history behind it.”

Carota first launched IoM as a resale Instagram account, building an archive of rare vintage pieces and hosting pop-ups around New York. Gray attended one of those events in 2022, while reselling vintage furniture. The two quickly became collaborators, then business owners. “What connected us most was a shared perspective on vintage: not as something meant to sit untouched in private collections, but as pieces meant to be worn, lived in, and continuously recirculated,” Carota says.

Frustration with the market made them founders. “So much of archival fashion exists inside insider networks—celebrity stylists, private dealers, collectors,” Gray says. “We became obsessed with creating infrastructure around vintage that felt as accessible, seamless, and trustworthy as modern retail, while still preserving the integrity and history of the garments themselves.” Rather than just an accessible rental platform, their idea was to create a different access model for fashion history.

Access over ownership defines the service; rather than operate solely as resale, the platform focuses on rental. “Rental changes the equation entirely,” Gray says. “Instead of one person owning a piece forever, dozens of women can experience it over time.”

Isle of Monday’s early inventory reflects the current demand for uninhibited glamour and maximalism, as well as late ’90s and early ’00s work designs: Galliano-era Dior, Roberto Cavalli, Vivienne Westwood, Jean Paul Gaultier, Versace, and Blumarine are among the platform’s strongest performers. The women note growing demand for more pared-back pieces, too, and a shift towards the quieter, sensual designs of Tom Ford-era Gucci. Looking ahead, the founders hope to expand deeper into Galliano-era Dior, early McQueen, Prada, Margiela, Alaïa, and Issey Miyake.

Still, Carota and Gray insist the appeal extends beyond labels, as they’ve charted the growing popularity of unbranded vintage garments that reflect their era’s sumptuous use of fabrics and strong tailoring. “Often, the emotional connection to a piece matters more than the label itself,” Carota says.

Unlike peer-to-peer rental apps, Isle of Monday manages authentication, preservation, logistics, fit guidance, and photography in-house—an operational necessity when dealing with one-of-one garments. “Vintage rental requires a completely different operational model than modern fashion rental,” Carota says. “A 1998 Vivienne Westwood corset isn’t treated the same way as contemporary inventory sitting in a warehouse somewhere.”

Accessibility also means tackling vintage’s notoriously inconsistent sizing system. At launch, the platform introduced a “Will This Fit?” feature that allows users to input measurements for more accurate guidance. “One thing we hear constantly is that people didn’t realize vintage could feel this approachable,” Gray says. “A major focus on our roadmap is reshaping the conversation around fit and sizing in vintage.”

The customer base has already expanded well beyond the expected fashion capitals. While New York, Los Angeles, and Miami remain key spots, demand has also emerged from Atlanta, Tennessee, Michigan, and Kansas. According to Gray, the modern vintage customer “doesn’t necessarily see vintage as occasion-only dressing.”

“She’s mixing a Dior by Galliano corset with vintage denim on a Tuesday night, and renting an archival Cavalli gown for a wedding weekend in Italy,” she continues. “There’s a real desire for pieces that feel personal and emotionally resonant rather than mass-produced.” One beta customer, who had spent months searching for a specific vintage runway dress she’d saved years earlier, found her dream dress in their inventory, and she rented it for her 30th birthday. “She told us she genuinely never thought she’d get to wear something like that in her lifetime,” says Carota. “That emotional aspect of access has probably been the most rewarding part so far.”

Cassandra Grey, founder of Madame Grey and Violet Grey, is an Isle of Monday investor and describes the platform as “the answer to a problem every ‘main character woman’ knows intimately.” “We all want to establish our personal brand in the way we slay the fits,” she adds. Rather than shopping mindlessly or the endless thrifting hunt, it’s a chance to shop the runway without the price tag or guilt of overconsumption.

“Long-term,” Gray says, “we want Isle of Monday to become the definitive infrastructure layer for vintage rental globally.” Cher’s Anna Sui? Carrie’s Fendi? Naomi’s Alaïa ? Add to cart.