The mission
We're building a reference for things people actually wear — bags, sunglasses, dresses, jewelry, shoes, jackets, scarves, accessories. Each object documented with what's verifiable: brand, year, designer, material, dimensions, atelier, provenance. Each photo uploaded by a person who actually held the object. Each piece of context discussed openly in the margins.
The web is full of luxury content. Most of it tries to sell you something on the same page where it describes it. Vadorna separates the two. We're a reference, the way a museum catalogue is a reference. The goal is for an entry on a 1955 2.55 to mean the same thing for a curator, a collector, and a curious teenager.
The principles
Facts, not opinions
Every entry should be defensible from a public source. Opinions belong in the comments, where they can be argued, corrected, and weighed. The main entry is a fact sheet.
Authentication is the user's responsibility
Vadorna does not authenticate. Photos, sources and comments help readers form their own judgement. If you need a certificate, get one from someone qualified. Our role is documentation.
Sources beat assertions
Every claim that isn't obvious deserves a source — a brand archive, Wikipedia, an auction catalogue, a published book. When sources disagree, we say so and let the reader judge.
Open, but moderated
Anyone can contribute. Submissions go through review. We reject sloppy data, copied photos, brand-published images uploaded as personal, and anything that looks like an ad or a sale. Repeated violations end the account.
Focused discussion
Comments live under the object they discuss. We don't host general discussion boards — that drift makes communities messy and creates more moderation work than the archive deserves.
Monetisation is transparent
The archive is free to read and ad-free. The only commercial element today is the clearly-labelled, optional resale links on variant pages — if you buy through one we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, and the reference data stays completely separate from it. We will announce any further commercial change in advance, keep it clearly marked and optional, and keep it separable from the reference data. The archive itself always stays free to read.
The archive is the asset
Whatever else we build around it, the public archive remains the centre, and remains free to read. That's what keeps the rest honest.
What's in the archive (and what isn't)
Right now, Vadorna focuses entirely on luxury bags and small leather goods — documented model by model, variant by variant (size, leather, hardware, colourway, year).
The data model already supports more. If the community wants it, we'll open documentation for sunglasses, dresses and other wearable luxury next — but bags first, done properly, beats fifty categories done thinly.
The one firm rule: we only publish what can be documented with at least one verifiable source.
How the archive evolves
Vadorna grows continuously as the community adds and corrects entries. We don't publish a fixed feature roadmap here, but we make one commitment: any significant change — to how moderation works, to what data we collect, or the introduction of any commercial layer such as affiliate links — will be announced in advance on the site and, for active contributors, by email.
Community guidelines
Short and direct:
- Submit what you can defend. If you wouldn't bet a coffee on it, source it before you publish.
- Photo only what you own or can rephotograph. No brand catalogue images, no resale-site screenshots, no pixel-grabs from Vogue.
- Disagree on the facts, not the person. Most disputes resolve to "actually I read it wrong" if everyone reads carefully.
- No buying, selling, or trading in messages or comments. Take it to a marketplace. We'll remove it.
- No counterfeit help. Don't ask, don't post photos of, don't link to counterfeits. We will be unkind about this.
- Credit your sources. Every non-obvious fact deserves a footnote.
How review & photo quality work
The upload form stays deliberately short, but here's what happens to a submission behind the scenes — so there are no surprises.
- Everything is reviewed before it goes public. New models, collections, releases and events — and edits to existing entries — sit in a queue until a moderator, admin or trusted senior contributor approves them. A single reviewer can approve a routine submission; removals, reversals and anything contested are checked by more than one. Nothing appears in the live archive instantly.
- Photos are checked for quality and provenance. We run lightweight checks in your own browser — resolution, sharpness, exposure and duplicate detection — and strip GPS data automatically. Catalogue images, reseller-listing screenshots and magazine grabs are removed; upload only photos you took yourself of pieces you can document.
- Facts should be defensible. Sources aren't strictly required, but they're encouraged — sourced entries are trusted faster and rank higher, and an unsourced claim can be challenged or removed. Any source is welcome as long as its origin is shown (a brand page, an auction house, a museum, Wikipedia — even a photo of a dated magazine page); the community judges how reliable it is. Adverts and counterfeit material are rejected outright.
- New brands, designers and models are welcome. If what you're adding isn't listed yet, just type the full name — it's created together with your submission and confirmed during the same review.
- You stay in control of your photos. Delete any from your profile at any time; we remove it from the public archive immediately and from backups within 30 days.
The full licence terms for photos live in the Photo policy.
Get in touch
For corrections: leave a comment on the entry. For moderation issues: report from the comment menu. For everything else, email us at contact@vadorna.com.