“Folks love a comeback,” mentioned Christos Garkinos.
The TV character — seen in Bravo’s “Dukes of Melrose” and co-owner of L.A.’s famed consignment store Many years — has reclaimed his life, and he tells the story in his new guide “Covet the Comeback: How a Son of Greek Immigrants Discovered Success, Misplaced Every little thing, Then Constructed a Trend Empire,” out now.
“I’ve seen the ebbs and flows of his profession,” mentioned actress and producer Garcelle Beauvais at his guide launch ceremonial dinner on Tuesday evening, held in partnership with Etro inside Spago in Beverly Hills. The 2 have been pals for 23 years.
“So to see him now launch this superb community, and the guide, it’s thrilling,” continued Beauvais (who simply revealed her exit from “The Actual Housewives of Beverly Hills”).
The community she’s referring to is the group he’s constructed promoting luxurious consignment on Instagram Stay, lately passing $100 million in gross sales. “Not solely did he determine it out, he pivoted in a approach that now he’s created this community the place ladies may be within the carpool lane they usually store, they are often at dwelling and store. It’s turn into a cult following,” mentioned Beauvais.
Garkinos, born and raised in Detroit, moved to L.A. in 1990, working for Disney and Virgin Megastores with Richard Branson, earlier than entering into style. With co-owner Cameron Silver, he turned Many years right into a retail vacation spot for celebrities and stylists, with rigorously curated, in-demand items.
“I used to stay on the prime of Mulholland [Drive]. The entire cliché — the pool, events galore,” mentioned Garkinos. “I turned 50 and all the pieces fell aside. I misplaced all the pieces. I misplaced my marriage. I misplaced my sobriety.”
His funds had dwindled, and inside 4 months he was dwelling in a one-bedroom just a few miles south. “I’d stroll out my entrance door and see my home on the prime of the hill.”
Then got here an opportunity encounter that modified his life: “I used to be right down to my final $1,000. Somebody requested me to host a dinner in Detroit. I believed, ‘How a lot? Nice. I’ll go and pay my hire for the following month.’”
On the occasion he met the pinnacle of selling of a Detroit lodge, who took him to breakfast the following day. “She requested how I used to be, and I mentioned, ‘I’m simply trudging my approach by way of life,’” Garkinos continued. “Trudging is an enormous A.A. phrase. She’s like, ‘Are you sober? So am I. How can I show you how to?’ She actually set me up with all her resorts in these small markets, Omaha, Detroit, Minneapolis, for me to do my truck exhibits. If I hadn’t mentioned that phrase, I wouldn’t be right here right this moment.”
He started paying off his payments, he mentioned. “After which COVID occurred. I used to be like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I owed so many individuals cash from consignment.”
However he acted shortly and took the enterprise on-line in March 2020, rising by way of the years. With the guide, he’s sharing classes he’s discovered alongside the way in which. “I’ve had loads of pivots in my life, and so I wished to speak about what to do when these pivots occur.
“ what, in life, now we have to undergo a few of these instances to understand the great instances,” mentioned Kathy Hilton. “It occurs to everyone.”
She, like many within the room — together with Beauvais, Selma Blair, Melanie Griffith, Karen Zambos and Monet Mazur (all in Etro) — met Garkinos throughout his days at Many years.
“He’s received such a watch,” Hilton mentioned of his work. “He’s style.”
“I feel it’s about individuals feeling protected to buy with me,” Garkinos mentioned of his on-line enterprise. Now 60, he’s married to his third husband, Rolland Ryan.
“This guide is a love letter to my mother and father, first, who have been Greek immigrants, however secondly, a love letter to Los Angeles and Hollywood and which you could really rewrite your story,” he added.
