My love for fashion was inherrited from my outrageously glamorous mom.

Growing up as the daughter of Eastern European parents who had taste meant that my older brother and I were always dressed to the nines. Max loved my parents, so he allowed them to dress him although he often felt like them putting us in cool and different clothes was intended as some kind of humiliation ritual. For me, it became something that I never really stopped doing. I am forever playing dress up and will always choose the thing that feels the most like me and the least like everyone else. My moms love for fashion was contagious, and my family lived in attempt to match her way of making everything an occasion. It should not go unmentioned that my perfect dad now owns black Margiela Tabi sneakers and a signiture pair of Parisian round seeing glasses.

I wanted to be just like her quite early on, strong and bold with her unapologetic confidence that could never be broken. I owe the beginning of my understanding and eternal love for fashion to my sweet mom who was able to express herself through her outfits each day, and taught me to do the same. I grow to be more like her everyday, which I used to never believe would happen, but am content with the thought that it is because it means I will always hold a piece of her in me. A piece of her in my heart, and a piece of her in my clothing that used to be hers.

For most of my life, my dream has been fashion. I wanted nothing more than to move to New York and pursue the ‘Devil Wears Prada’ dream, not very original but was whole heartedly supported by my family. I am currently at my third year studying fashion business at The Fashion Institute of Technology, pursuing the life I always saw for myself and dreamed of without my mom who gave me the motivation to get here. It’s a painful reality, but how lucky am I to have had the coolest mom that shared her passions with me.

I told my mom a few years back that I wanted to start collecting to open a second hand and vintage clothing store, I remember being instantly met with support and questions as to how we would make it happen and a strong offer to kick it off by selling some of her coveted designer pieces that she felt were no longer needed. She started thinking about the kind of things we would sell, what the shop would look like, and how amazing of an experience it would be for me. I can’t be sure if she would have remembered the promise to start this project together when I got a bit older, but I never forgot it. Since then I have looked forward to the day that this could become reality and that I would get to do it all with my mom. We were not perfect, because no one can be, but something we always understood about each other was our obsession with clothing. We always agreed that life is better when you are holding a shopping bag or have a new order in the mail.

Forever Collected is a space for my mom, Galina Podolskiy’s, legacy to live on. It is a way for me to fulfill the dream we had together and for each other, before Cancer took her away from us in 2024. She is no longer in this life, but her thoughtfully collected and adequately loved wardrobe remains and deserves to continue on being fabulous. No body is like my mom and I don’t ever think I will get to meet someone as passionate and courageous as her, but I can try to become half the woman she was. I would keep every single article of designer clothing, every handbag, and every six inch platform heel if I could but unfortunately my conscious won’t allow me to. Fortunately for you, almost all of it is available for you to shop and the really really good pieces are available to rent. It’s what my mom would have wanted for her collection.