Macy Eleni goes Hollywood
YAPPING HER WAY TO HER HOLLYWOOD DREAMS, MANIFESTING AND MAKING MOVES IN STUDDED VINTAGE MANOLOS
Words by By Amy Mazius
Photography: Kayla Cullen
Styling: Mackii Shaye x Little Oyster Club
Production: Amy Mazius
Makeup: Kris Jung
Hair: Eskee Lee
PA: Lexy Harris
Photography Assistant Molly McEvoy
It’s 5:15 am and we’re on the road, heading to an estate sale. The Click 5’s ‘Just The Girl’ is playing on Pop2k Sirius radio and we’re both wearing the unspoken Thrift Girlie™ uniform—black flared pants, crew neck vintage sweatshirts (Eleni’s is the MET Museum in a heathered grey), well-worn sneakers, and signature shield sunnies, of course. The sky is still navy and the air smells like dew and old garage wood. We’re sipping Starbucks iced coffees (Eleni’s is espresso but I’ll never reveal how many shots) and waiting for the doors to open. It’s too early for most people for a proper interview, but Macy Eleni is already yapping.
And really, she hasn’t stopped since the moment she arrived in LA, almost a decade ago. Eleni, Los Angeles’ Thrift Queen, has yapped her way through anxiety, internet virality, vintage racks, and red carpets—and now, toward a new phase of her Hollywood dream. This is the story of how Macy Eleni is blazing her own trail – paved by estate sales and gratitude – and one insane thrift grail at a time.
In the span of a month, Eleni and I have been to both ends of the Earth: Times Square and Hollywood Boulevard. Two places no self-respecting local voluntarily visits, unless, of course, their bestie is on a billboard in one and rolling around on star-studded pavement in the other. And honestly? Worth it. A manifestation made real, and a reminder that her particular strain of secondhand sparkle might just be unstoppable.
But for now, we’re parked on the street, watching the sunrise creep over a cul-de-sac in Fountain Valley. We’re conjuring the day’s haul, visualizing Victoria’s Secret slips, Steve Buscemi chairs, Melrose Place scripts, and deadstock Y2K baby tees as ours.
Eleni, settling into the front seat, tells me she’s never felt more herself. “I’ve always known I can make all my hopes and dreams come true, but I’m feeling so powerful right now… like I can actually do it. All I’ve done is yap my entire life. I was that kid in the class with endless energy. I was undiagnosed ADHD, just a yappy ham to the max, the yapper.” “Nothing has ever described me more. I have been running my mouth since the second I popped out of the womb and it's the only reason I've gotten this close to my dreams. I’ve never been that good with adding, subtracting and dividing, but one thing I can do is talk my ass off.”
The clock creeps toward 9 AM. We hop out of the car and, as if a wink from the universe, Freddie Mercury comes from an old speaker in the garage. ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ blaring, sun rising, we line up. The game plan: hit the closet rooms first, then go for the scripts, then do a second sweep.
As we’re ushered into the house with the first wave of shoppers, we beeline for the bin room, overflowing with possible treasures. I grab a Jean Paul Gaultier yellow plaid structured blazer and tuck it under my arm for safekeeping on our way up the stairs. On the floor, digging through bins, Macy seems relaxed, in her natural habitat. She tells me, “I say things that I need to hear. I yap about the stuff that I want to happen. I yap about the way I want to feel. I say out loud what I want to become reality. Being on a billboard in Times Square was on my manifestation list for this year, and it came true.”
“TV and magazines were my connection to this world I wanted to be in. Hollywood really is chock-full of dreamers… people who believe if they say things out loud, they can make them come true.”
With room one down, we hit the secret closet in the main room. Flicking through hangers of antique slips, Eleni shares, “I don’t know what it means to ‘make it’ in Hollywood yet… but when I get my first TV show on air, I think I’ll feel like I’ve made something.” She pulls a few vintage furs out, examines them, clocking their woven tags. “Ever since I moved here, I dreamed of doing a photoshoot for a magazine on Hollywood Boulevard in fully thrifted outfits. The fact that I got to do that with people I love and have one of my besties, Mackie from Little Oyster Club, style me in thrifted pieces, felt so special. At this place in my career, it felt like the perfect moment. I wouldn’t have wanted to do it anywhere else. It truly felt so Hollywood. It feels like I'm on a hot streak because I'm really living in my moment.”
Our arms are getting heavy, both hauling stuffed totes full of our booty. It’s time to look through, make our selects, return the rejects, savor the finds. We find a quiet spot outside, snagging a few vintage sunglasses on the way, side-questing toward the scripts. I snagged a studio copy of The Bodyguard, Eleni tore over how many copies of Melrose Place she needs.
Spending time with Eleni, you feel her moodboards come to life through what she’s eyeing, what she’s piecing together as her current dream wardrobe. Watching her build her present in clothes from another time is like a work of art: one of a kind, reference-rich, filled with intention, dotted with whimsy.
“I've wanted to create a career for myself in the entertainment and fashion industry since I was a little girl living in Ohio, raised by a single mom with no connections and not a ton of money,” Eleni says, holding a mesh graphic tee up to her. “Growing up, what really pushed me was my ambition to be happy. When I was six years old in Ohio I would be so depressed sitting at home. I would have the most negative thoughts. There were a lot of times where I didn't know what a future could look like for me. So I watched movies and I watched TV and I listened to interviews and I listened to people yapping their asses off. It brought me comfort and it painted a world for me, a sparkly world somewhere that I would one day maybe get to live.”
The mesh makes the cut. Next on the chopping block is a pair of Chip and Pepper jeans with contrast stitching, original tags on. “Now I get to actually live in this world I dreamed of mentally, emotionally and physically.”
Two hours later we emerge from the vortex, sweaty, stimming hard, and victorious—with a plethora of pieces, a Fendi flag (maybe from a store?), and the undeniable star of the sale. That’s the thing about Macy: she is a star, and it’s exciting to be around her while her Hollywood star is also rising. Her show may not be streaming just yet, but we're betting on Macy. It’s only a matter of time. She’s already spoken it into existence.