Passion for Fashion

Lot: 1 to 211 - 12th Dec, 2023 9:30 GMT+1/BST
Lot: 212 to 422 - 12th Dec, 2023 14:00 GMT+1/BST

Lots: 426

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.

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