Why is Tori Spelling Selling Her Juicy Couture Jeans on Ebay – and Why Do We Care?
As of August 30th, there were a significant amount of clothing items being offered on Ebay as part of our trek through “Tori’s Closet”. Apparently, Spelling and her ‘long time friend’ Sharon Yost are ‘offering you the chance to own a piece of this style maven’s fashion. Sharon is streamlining Tori’s Closet. This is a chance to own Tori’s love for fashion.’ The jeans, which were listed as Ebay Item #160022884485, were, as of August 30th, listed at $27 (yes, $27 only!) with 2 bids place on them. There were still 13 hours (and 16 minutes!) left to go on this particular auction…
Ms. Yost, whose Ebay seller identification is ‘syes’. She is pictured on the auction sites in an undated photo, seated on a sofa next to the very blonde, smiling Spelling. While Spelling is indeed smiling, it is not a toothy, wide grin, but more of a ‘hallo, let’s get this thing the hell over with’ look. Apparently, according to the auction site, Yost frequently conducts high-end ‘estate sales’ from topnotch Beverly Hills and beyond entertainers, business folk, and celebrities. God only knows why on earth someone would actually WANT their name and accompanying photo as part of a rather cheesy online auction for their used clothes, shoes and jewelry. One would think that they would be more than slightly mortified. And keep in mind – at absolutely no location in the auction listings for Ms. Spelling’s used clothing is there any indication that any percentage at all of the final auction sales price goes to a charity other than her own checking account.
There are still quite a few items up for grabs on Spelling’s Ebay auctions. Included are some pretty interesting insights into the fashion sense of the Hollywood diva. The words “Tori Spelling” are the first words included in every auction listing. Some of the fashion highlights include her Marc Jacobs Purple/Green high heel shoes, Frank More Leopard Fur High Heel shoes, Marc Jacobs brown slip on flat shoes (bear in mind that the woman wears a size 5.5 shoe), Gucci signature slip on heeled shoes,Yellow Box blue beaded slip on sheos, Marc Jacobs black rhinestone flat shoes, Christian Loboutin/Paris coin sandals, Gucci black snakeskin rhinestone slip ons, and a pair of Chanel burgundy stitched flat shoes.Prices for her used shoes start at $24.99 and go up to $99.00 for a starting bid. What lesson have we learned from these listings? The woman is small, with tiny feets, and likes to wear comfy designer shoes…
Also from Tori’s Closet come some pretty telling other garments as well. She’s offering her Camp Beverly Hill cropped track pants, in a small size, at a start bid price of $24.95. (Does anyone even wear Camp Beverly Hill’s line anymore??) Also up for grabs are ‘Tori Spelling’s Pam Hogg Screen Print Naked Rock Tee’, which, luckily for us common folks, starts the bidding at only $9.99. But this gal is on a mission: dig deep through her closet for those used clothes so that she (apparently) can purchase new, designer wear that’s perhaps a little bit more appropriate for the daughter of the late, great Aaron Spelling. Clothes that carry that all-important designer tag or label. (Interestingly enough, while she had over a dozen pair of sandals and flip flops, including terry cloth ones (ick!) for auction, she had only one pair of Chanel flats up on the boards. And the mystery goes on…)
Looking for a size small Lainey Irish brown turtleneck sweater? The bid as of 8/30/06 was at $124.50, with five bidders panting eagerly in line. Other items include a Rebecca Taylor khaki polka dot pants, brand new with tags, which had one bid of $24.99. (I checked out this auction, as I did the others; the polka dot pants were really quite hideous.) We’re back to Camp Beverly Hills with a black hoodie dress, which was drawing eleven bidders at a price of $51.00. She had quite a few cropped pants (“lux green/purple plaid cropped pants, “lux gray/blue/pink plaid cropped pants”) which had starting bids of $24.99 each but only one bidder (for the frankly pretty ugly green and purple plaid cropped pants. I am truly at a loss to explain why on earth anyone would bid on or buy these; they were not an attractive addition to anyone’s wardrobe, unless, I guess, you’re Tori Spelling. Maybe that’s why they are for sale in the first place?!)
Other Tori must-have’s include a Joy Stick jacket by Warner Brothers with a Tweety motif (the less said here, the better), an Ella Moss green Asian embroidered shirt for only $24.99, a pair of 7 for All Mankind faded flared jeans, which had 3 bidders at a total price so far in the auction of only $31.01. (The 7 for All Mankind brand of denim normally runs about $260 per pair.)
There was also a Theory earth-toned horizontal print skirt, Earnest Sewn dark whisker knee jeans brand new with the tags (again with the cropped pants/jeans!), a pair of YaYa black faux belt buckle pants, a pair of Joie black cargo pants with front pockets, a pair of Miss Sixty, a good brand, black cargo pants with buckles. (Many of these items didn’t even have a bid on them, with only one day for the auctions to close.) Spelling was also going beyond the closet and putting up on the auction block such interesting items as a pair of ivy fluted crystal parfait glasses, a pair of Reidel crystal champagne flutes, a Coronaware Rosetta floral pitcher (which was currently fetching $76.00), and a 3-piece Royal Albert blossom sugar and creamer set. But back to the basics for her auctions: tons of peasant eyelet skirts, again in small sizes, nearly all of them by Juicy Couture with starting bids of $24.99 (and not many had bids on them at all). Tori was also getting rid of her Vicec American flag stitched tee shirt as well as her Vicc Newport Pleasure stitched tee. There was a Maggie Coulombo floral silk poncho top that frankly was not all that attrative but nevertheless had six bidders for a high bid of $33.00.
As of today’s date, September 2, 2006, there were at least five days to go for the bulk of the auction items. I’m also guessing that many of the items were not sold the first time around, and have been re-listed.
Why did this curiousity draw my attention? Basically, I find the fact that Tori Spelling, daughter of a multimillionaire, one of the current psuedo-celebrities who garner much media attention for no particular reason, and someone that very few of us would guess that she’d sell her used clothing for the money was doing exactly just that. Much has been made over the past months of Aaron Spelling’s passing and accompanying anecdotes regarding the Spelling family itself. Supposedly, Tori has been estranged from her mother, the round-faced, aptly-named Candy Spelling, for several years and continue their ongoing feud. At Aaron Spelling’s funeral, memorial service and life celebration at last week’s Emmy awards, Candy sat shoulder to shoulder with her son, Tori’s brother, clasping his hand for dear life while dabbing at her (heavily mascaraed) eyes. Nowhere in the vicinity was daughter Tori, nor was Tori mentioned in the official family statement regarding Aaron’s death. Now rumblings of growing anger continue as Spelling’s will is probated. Again apparently, fueld by media frenzy, Aaron’s wife Candy is the executor of his estate according to his will, which gave a paltry (by Hollywood standards) sum of $5,000,000 or less to his only daughter.
Is Tori Spelling auctioning off her used, rather low to mid brow, fashions on Ebay in an attempt to embarrass her mother? Is she trying to make a point that she is not the media’s image of the perennially wealthy young starlet, that she is now on the verge of being financially broke? Much has been made of Aaron Spelling’s nepotism in hiring his daughter for “Beverly Hills 90210” and several made for TV movies. Now that Daddy’s sadly gone, is Tori now all alone in the world (except, of course, for her recent acquisition of a new husband)? Why on earth would any celebrity stoop to the level of selling her used clothes on Ebay for all the world to see – and to judge?
