A rack with pieces for sale at Cyndi Lauper’s “closet cleanout” in New York. Photo: The New York Times
Alicia Abelli, a 44-year-old Brooklyn mother, artist and ex-lawyer, was gleefully squealing as she clutched a black lace bodysuit that once belonged to Cyndi Lauper.
“This is straight out of the ’90s!” she said. “I am told she wore it a lot.”
Last Tuesday (Jan 20), Lauper’s clothing from the past 20-plus years – the pop art Moschino blazer she wore on stage with Nicki Minaj; the Diesel tops and skinny jeans she rocked while schlepping through airports – was sold off in a small “closet cleanout”, held in a donated space on the Lower East Side.
Shoppers who came of age during the MTV era, and beyond, lined up for more than five hours before the sale opened to the public, shivering through the frigid temperatures for a chance to snag a piece of the pop icon’s exuberant, and surprisingly wearable, wardrobe.
“This is so me-coded!” one man proclaimed of a black button-down shirt with a sheer, cascading waist, which Lauper, 72, sported just last year.
Riley Verry, 26, an East Villager who works in a record store, arrived with a leopard-print neckline, winged eyeliner and crimped bangs.
“I love the 80s – I was supposed to be born then,” she said.
She made off with a handmade plastic chapeau, by New York designer Sideara, that looked like a series of Saturn’s rings.
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Riley Verri with a handmade plastic chapeau resembling a series of Saturn’s rings that she purchased at Cyndi Lauper’s “closet cleanout” in New York. Photo:The New York TimesBuyers in hot pink, fruit motifs and rainbow faux fur mingled amid the vintage embroidered coats and vibrant Alice + Olivia suits (a favourite of Lauper’s).
Beyond a love for accessories and clashing patterns, they were united by their deep fandom for the Grammy, Tony and Emmy-winning artiste, whom many considered a beacon of individuality and fearlessness.
“I love her freedom of expression, that she stands up for human rights. I love that she’s a weirdo,” Verry said.
Growing up in the Ozarks, “Cyndi taught me everything I need to know,” said Harmony Trujillo, 47.
“She was so outside the box of anything I’d seen. I wanted to be just like that.”
Beneath a homemade sign that read “Deal After Deal” (a la Lauper’s classic ballad Time After Time), Trujillo, a business owner who lives in the West Village, flipped through the stagewear.
“I’m absolutely going to get something that brings me pure joy, and for no other reason,” she said. “Pure joy.”
By Wednesday (Jan 21), everything was sold out. Net proceeds went to Girls Just Wanna Have Fundamental Rights, Lauper’s fund to advance women’s rights and health.
Prices were largely modest. A US$10 (approximately RM40) bargain bin of new fingerless gloves quickly disappeared.
“I just literally wanted to clean out her closet,” said Nikki Fontanella, Lauper’s stylist of 25 years and one of the organisers of the sale.
“And I wanted to make it accessible for the fans. How cool is it to be able to have one of Cyndi Lauper’s shirts, and it’s US$30 (RM120)?”
Lauper was not in attendance, as she was prepping for her first Las Vegas residency this spring. The looks she’s known for from the 80s – crinoline skirts, neon pumps, lingerie-as-outerwear and piles of jangly bangles – remain in an archive.
But photos of Lauper appearing, say, in a patterned suit as a guest on Ellen, or with pink hair in a blue-gray moto jacket, were affixed to the garments.
One shopper snapped up a white Moschino tuxedo-style tailcoat (“NYE 2018-2019 Turks & Caicos”) in hopes of wearing it to her hypothetical wedding.
Fontanella, in a plaid jacket and platform boots, served as fashion historian, schooling shoppers about innovations such as stretch leather.
“In the early 2000s, this was one of the hottest things around,” she explained, brandishing one of the many pairs of supple trousers.
Some of the more quotidian items, like 7 For All Mankind denim or a black-and-white pullover, still had the scent of perfume (Lauper is an avid fragrance collector).
“She’s real – she wears Zara sometimes; it happens,” Fontanella said. “We have the high end, too; she’s all of these people.”
Kelli Bailey, 61, an artist from the Lower East Side, lined up at 7.30 am, swaddled in a Norma Kamali sleeping bag coat. Granted entry around noon, she emerged with a striped suit like one Lauper once wore for a magazine shoot.
Others bought for their mothers or daughters.
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Pervis Ross-Gurrieri, 40, a fashion publicist, said Lauper’s early maximalist style had inspired him to experiment.
“Add another necklace, add another bangle. You can wear it, whatever it is.”
The line-waiters found their own camaraderie. Brittany Dichter, 52, who with her friend Lana Platin, 53, drove an hour and a half from Bergen County in New Jersey to attend, doled out hand and foot warmers.
They befriended Trujillo, and were already planning a vacation together.
Afterward, they compared their scores: Dichter, a blue and gold tapestry-patterned suit; Trujillo, a black lace number and flared crocheted pants.
Would they feel as bold as Lauper in them?
“Without question,” Dichter said.
“You have to realise,” she added, “She shaped us. She was revolutionary. She still is.” – ©2026 The New York Times Company
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
