Everything Everywhere All at Once had a huge night at the Oscars. Not just in the acting categories but it picked up Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture, all of which were claimed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as The Daniels. Daniel S. brought his mom to the ceremony. While on the carpet, she let folks know that his sleek black suit had been purchased from a hometown secondhand store called Unclaimed Baggage, which specializes in reselling clothing from suitcases abandoned at airports. That’s brilliant, btw. And so is an Academy Award nominee wearing a recycled suit on national television during a huge event.
After winning three Oscars — for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture — on Sunday night, Everything Everywhere All at Once co-creators Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan are the talk of Tinseltown.
Now, adding to the buzz is word that Scheinert’s “champagne carpet” look — a black tuxedo suit with multicolored buttons worn with a black tie and dark red dress shirt — was a thrift outfit bought from an Alabama store called Unclaimed Baggage, known primarily for stocking items pulled from suitcases that have been abandoned for at least 90 days by airline passengers around the country.
According to Jennifer Kritner, vice president of retail and company culture at the store, the Alabama-born Scheinert and his family are longtime customers and have made routine visits over the years to grab various looks for big events.
“Daniel shopped here growing up,” Kritner tells Yahoo Life. “It’s wonderful because his parents are from Guntersville, Alabama, which is probably about a 25-minute drive” from the Scottsboro store.
“We reached out to his mom and his mom confirmed, ‘Yeah, it’s hysterical. It’s from Unclaimed,'” says Krinter, noting that “early on in Daniel’s career, they needed to be going to award shows, and so he snagged [a suit] in the store that happened to fit a very tall, very slender man. So, they added it to his wardrobe.”
Kritner adds that Scheinert’s mom Becky also tried her luck at finding a special item for the Oscars, but did not score: “His mom actually came here to shop for her Oscar dress for this season, but unfortunately, had no luck finding just the right dress,” she notes.
Oh hell yes, let’s normalize recycling clothes in the entertainment industry. One of my indulgence shows is Next in Fashion with Tan France and my favorite episode this season has been the one in which they had to upcycle an outfit from a pile of thrift store clothing. Wearing secondhand pieces for major events would present a unique challenge to stylists to make them interesting enough for the red carpet, too. Daniel S. looked great. It was a nice suit, fit him well, although I’m sure he had it tailored. I love that his shirt picked up the maroon of Daniel K’s suit. (BTW, Daniel K’s suit and jade bolo tie was an homage to Michelle Yeoh’s Evelyn character’s cardigan and necklace in EEAAO.) Added to the powerful environmental message wearing a thrift shop suit sends, I love the loyalty of Daniel returning to a store he shopped in as a younger man.
When people caught wind of Daniel S. wearing a suit that had been left in lost luggage, they had plenty to say about it. My favorite was Ron Wood Jr.’s take:
Who’re you wearing?: Gucci, Prada?
DANIEL: I am wearing clothes from a store in rural Alabama that buys all of unclaimed bags from the airport and sells the contents for a fraction. a lot of good stuff in those bags for the low.
Daniel an Alabama legend for this. 😂 https://t.co/bbKTPYrK3C
— Roy Wood Jr- Ex Jedi (@roywoodjr) March 13, 2023
Just a small rant – I saw that tweet and wanted to put it in this story. But because Twitter sucks so much now, it took me way too long to track down. El*n M*sk can sit on a tack.
Photo credit: Blaine Ohigashi and SI/Avalon, Twitter and Getty Images
I love this! Charity shops are huge in Australia and I donate tons but I buy a lot of stuff too. Recently I bought a stunning blue linen dress made in Italy for $15. Basically new. A faux leather jacket also basically new for 12. A really pretty evening dress I’m wearing to a fancy wedding. 25. And a designer jacket for 30. Basically unworn. I’ve also bought any recent furniture like side tables from them. Chairs I pick up off the side of the road and up cycle 🤣 I rarely buy new stuff and I’m so glad this hit the red carpet. Or beige one.
Same! I love the thrill of random finds, plus easy on the wallet. My daughter just found a wool JCrew overcoat for $20 at a Humane Society shop this weekend!
My favorite thing about Unclaimed Baggage: they have Hoggle, the puppet from Labyrinth. He has his own display window. Good on Daniel S. for finding good things because I never have!
You’ve been? I’ve dreamed of going, but it was kind of far from where my parents used to live for a day trip, and now they don’t even live in AL anymore. The website for the store used to have a tab for all the interesting stuff they’ve found and I remember it showing Hoggle
I teach and live in the area! Everyone I’ve visited with finds cool stuff, but I never have.
I love thrifting too but nowadays it’s just a grift: looking at YOU Value Village >:(
Awesome! Thrift it up
When Schitt’s Creek was being put together Eugene Levy shopped around thrift and consignment stores to get the wealthy wardrobe on the show’s low budget. I always thought that was cool trivia
How fantastic! I don’t know who this man is, but I think I may have fallen a bit in love with him!
A few years ago my Bestie and her husband went away for a long weekend with another two couples. They got an Airbnb very close to the beach, and the shopping precinct, full of interesting-looking boutiques. The three men were taken up for three days doing something with go carts or hot rods or something, so the (other) girls got up late went to brunch, strolled around the shops, had lunch… This is not the usual thing my Bestie does. At one point the other gals went into a boutique they’d been in the day before. Bestie would not be caught dead in expensive resort clothes, so after 30 minutes of huffing and puffing, feeling her blood pressure rise, and with no sign of them actually selecting anything, she told them she was going to wander further up the street where they hadn’t yet been. During her stroll, she came upon a St. Vincent de Paul charity shop. Ah, now she is in her element. She found a great pair of jeans that look like they were made especially for her, a beautiful ruby red half crocheted, half knitted cardigan, two tops, and a beautiful hippie style dress. She is so tinny, because there was a sale on that day. She. Was absolutely chuffed, paying just $20 for her haul. And I can vouch that they were really good quality and, really, just her. She returned to the boutique, and her friends were still undecided about what to buy.. The shopkeeper saw her bag and asked if she had a nice time shopping and did she get anything pretty for herself. When Bestie told her, the woman turned up her nose and walked away.
Later that afternoon, they were all packing up their belongings so they could make a very early start the next morning. The two of them emptied all their bags and picked up this garment and that, holding them up in front of them… Bestie said, “Yikes, you must have melted the plastic paying for all that stuff!” One of them replied, “ Yeah but I’m not sure I really like some of the stuff I bought…” the other one agreed.
Bestie said she absolutely hated being away and having to put up with these two vain women because her husband was mates with their husbands, having bonded over their mutual love of cars, and swore she would never go away for the same kind of thing again. And she hasn’t. And she still wears those things she bought that day. And I still covet that red cardigan.
…AND IT LOOKED GREAT.
I love this!