We are back to tempt you again for our final sale of the year!
The star of the show this time is Elizabeth Taylor’s Christian Dior couture Soirée à Rio 'Oscars' dress, Spring-Summer 1961, by Marc Bohan (Lot 422). This historic gown, along with a selection of elegant pieces from the late Hollywood icon’s wardrobe, comprise Lots 407-422 in the sale. The majority of these items were gifted to close family friends Gaston and Elizabeth Sanz. Mr Gaston Sanz had worked for Elizabeth Taylor since the 1950s and was one of her most trusted and longest serving employees.
We are thrilled to include the jaw-dropping collection of Vivienne Westwood from Baby Mary (Lots 244-296). Baby Mary’s bright pink vintage boutique 'Miss Faline', located in Tokyo, Japan, has garnered a cult following, enticing fashion hunters from all around the world through its doors. Her collection includes pieces so rare we could previously only dream of them, such as Lot 274, the ‘baby’ corset featuring a detail from the painting 'Catharina Hooft with her Nurse' by Frans Hal, 1619-20, 'Always On Camera' collection, Autumn-Winter 1992-93. Lot 278 comprises a rare faux-fur corset and mini-skirt and Lot 277 a faux fur cape, both key looks from the 'Anglomania' collection, Autmn-Winter 1993-94. The latter is famously seen on the runway, worn backwards by Kate Moss. Also included are not one but three crowns to choose from (Lots 246, 247 & 285), and to complete the look: a faux-ermine capelet, as worn by Sarah Stockbridge in the iconic image captured by Nick Knight for the 'Harris Tweed' collection, Autumn-Winter 1987-88 (Lot 245).
Also starring in this sale is The Sue Clowes collection (Lots 192-209). The important English fashion and textile designer came to prominence during the post-punk era of British fashion. Clowes created a cultural cocktail of offbeat imagery and her vibrant designs, which utilised paper stencilling and primary colours, helped defined the emerging New Wave style. Her designs were popularised by key early 80s bands and artists, such as Culture Club, Bananarama, Nina Hagen, Jennie Bellestar, Toya Wilcox, Psychedelic Furs, and Depeche Mode.
For those of you in need of a razzle-dazzle party dress for the festive season, Lots 353-405 comprise the Julien Macdonald archive of celebrity dress. These garments were set aside to lend to celebrities and VIPs for stage performances and red carpet events, many of them immediately recognisable from press images such as ‘that dress’ worn by Emily Ratanovski at the Harper's Bazaar Icons Awards in 2016. And for the ultimate party gown, look no further than Lot 406: Brooke Shield's Vivienne Westwood couture ballgown, worn for her starring role in the Christmas film ‘A Castle For Christmas', 2021.
There is an extraordinary selection of original 1930s costumes designed by Erté for the Bal Tabarin in Paris (Lots 89-95). These daring outfits saw performers transformed into scantily clad sea monsters, evil flowers, tigers, leopards and panthers, or even wearing nothing at all except for a shimmering sequin-scaled velvet snake draped around their bodies. While this Poiret-trained designor and illustrator’s drawings often fetch large sums at auction, it is not often we see costumes coming to market, not least originals from his heyday on the Parisian cabaret scene. If you are a fan of Moulin Rouge then these lots are for you!
Historic dress is also well represented in the sale with an exceptionally rare infant's pierced iron corset from the early 17th century, appearing more akin to plate armour than the flexible boned corsets we are more typically accustomed to seeing. And the robes worn by Henry Nevill 2nd Earl of Abergavenny to the coronation of King George IV, 19th July, 1821 (Lot 71) are so rich with gold thread that their shimmering brilliance makes them appear as if they were made only yesterday!
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and look forward to assisting you with your bids!
Morning session, lots 1-211, begins at 09:30am. The afternoon session, lots 212-422, will begin at 2pm.
For more information on how to bid, please click here. Live bidding is now possible via our website on sale day. In order to bid online, please ensure you have created an account with us and that your account is enabled for live bidding - new clients will need to email us a form of photo ID, proof of address and paid invoices from other auction houses where appropriate. Once you have created an account and have been approved to bid, please click the purple 'Pre-register for live bidding' button which will appear on the online catalogue. You then need to accept the terms and conditions to proceed. On the day of the sale, a button marked 'Bid live' will appear on the website and clicking this will allow you to access the live bidding platform. Please note that there is an additional 1.5% charge plus VAT for any lots won via our online bidding platform.
Please also note that online bidding is automatically capped at £6,000 in total - if you envisage that you will exceed this amount, please contact us directly so we can remove the bidding cap - we may ask for further information from you before doing this.
Clients who prefer to bid via Invaluable still have this option and can access the catalogue here. Please note the charge for bidding online via the Invaluable platform is 3% plus VAT. We strongly advise that you register to bid in advance of the auction and not the day of, as we cannot guarantee approval once the auction has begun.
Lot 1 - A Chanel perfume bottle gilt chain belt, circa 1990
Sold for £400
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 2 - A Chanel 'lucky charms' belt, Autumn-Winter 1993-94
Sold for £1,100
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 3 - A Chanel speckled wool jacket and matching waistcoat, Autumn-Winter 2001-02
Sold for £800
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 4 - A Chanel black and white bouclé tweed suit, Cruise collection 2003
Sold for £950
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 5 - A fine Chanel ink-blue tweed suit, Autumn-Winter 2000-01
Sold for £800
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 6 - A Chanel black faille evening coat, Autumn-Winter 2000-01
Sold for £650
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 8 - A pair of Chanel chain-festooned moon boots, Autumn-Winter 1993-94
Sold for £600
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 9 - A Chanel quilted cotton duffle coat, circa 1987
Sold for £1,500
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 10 - A Chanel navy and ivory bouclé wool suit, Spring-Summer 1991
Sold for £700
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 11 - A Chanel evening ensemble, Spring-Summer 1992
Sold for £1,100
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 12 - A Chanel turquoise knit twinset, early 1990s
Sold for £500
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 13 - A Chanel navy velvet cocktail suit, late 1970s-early 80s
Sold for £300
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 14 - A Chanel printed silk skirt, Spring-Summer 2006
Sold for £300
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 16 - A Chanel by Lagerfeld black silk historicist evening gown, Autumn-Winter 1984-85
Sold for £1,200
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 17 - A Chanel little black dress with polka-dot pink faille cummerbund, Spring-Summer 1988
Sold for £150
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 18 - A Chanel ballgown, Autumn-Winter 1986-87
Sold for £500
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 19 - A Chanel black silk-taffeta ballgown, circa 1986
Sold for £500
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 21 - A Chanel quilted vinyl jumbo bag, 1980s-early 90s
Sold for £550
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 22 - A Chanel 2.55 bag in black and white striped silk, 1966
Sold for £2,600
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 23 - A rare Chanel document case in caviar leather, 1980s-early 90s
Sold for £280
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 24 - A Chanel black bouclé wool suit, Autumn-Winter 1995-96
Sold for £2,500
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 25 - A Chanel pastel blue and white houndstooth rayon-cotton suit, Spring-Summer 1993
Sold for £700
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 26 - A Chanel pale yellow bouclé suit, early 1990s
Sold for £750
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 27 - A Chanel navy silk crêpe dress, circa 1986
Sold for £260
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 30 - A Chanel sequined dress, cruise 2000
Sold for £1,100
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 31 - A Chanel deep purple velvet halterneck dress, late 1980s-early 1990s
Sold for £460
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 32 - A Chanel floral devoré velvet dress, Cruise 2001
Sold for £550
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 33 - A Chanel 'Casino' lucky charms quilted lambskin 2.55 reissue bag, 2016-17
Sold for £3,000
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 35 - A Chanel couture raspberry-pink tweed suit, circa 1960
Sold for £1,200
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 36 - A Chanel by Karl Lagerfeld couture midnight blue tulle cocktail gown, Autumn-Winter 1993-94
Sold for £2,000
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 38 - A Versace studded handbag and skirt, modern
Sold for £300
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 39 - A pair of Gucci gold leather trainers with rainbow foam platform soles, Resort 2017
Sold for £400
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 41 - A Versace blue fox fur coat, Autumn-Winter 2006-07
Sold for £550
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 42 - Christian Dior by John Galliano evening shoes, probably Spring-Summer 1998
Sold for £340
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 43 - A Gucci black crocodile handbag, 1960s
Sold for £600
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
