Divorcée sales are a thing now

Apparently, wealthy, formerly married California women are sloughing off their DVF wrap dresses and designer shoes through private sales held ‘in the ballrooms of upscale hotels.’

Organiser Jill Alexander told the Wall Street Journal that her sales give newly divorced women a chance to break with the past, downsize and trade baggage for cash as they embark on their single lives. The process of preparing a sale sounds like it verges on the therapeutic: ‘On a typical day, Ms Alexander shows up at the mansion of a stranger, bringing cupcakes, tissues and a shoulder to cry on. “It’s very intimate,” she said, “and it can get emotional.”’

For Julie Spira, a divorced former radio and Internet executive who shifted her designer goods at a recent event, the sales offer hope of a recalibration.

‘I had a very glamorous lifestyle. I had to look a certain way,’ she said. She decided to dispense with 60 gowns, a Chanel bag and a diamond baguette necklace before selling the 4,800-square-foot home she shared with her husband. ‘It’s time for a more realistic lifestyle.’

Spira kept 30% of the proceeds of her sale, directing another 25% to two cancer charities. The rest went to Alexander, who presumably sprung for the hotel Champagne waiters (and those cupcakes).

The real winners would seem to be the divorcées, who no longer have to cart around the vestiges of their coupledom.

‘I have 60 gowns and who needs 60 gowns?’ Spira said. ‘It’s a good feeling to let go.’