The Mr Steven Philip Collection (part 1) & Passion for Fashion
Auction: June 20th and 21st
I’m honoured to have been entrusted with the sale of friend, collector, dealer, fashion hunter, gatherer - Mr Steven Philip’s legendary archive part 1 (day1). This is the perfect opportunity to acquire museum quality Westwood from Punk Sex-Originals, 1975, swashbuckling Pirates, 1981, and every fabulous design twist and turn of Viv’s through to romantic ball gowns and dangerously vertiginous Super Elevated Platforms of the ‘90s and 2000s. The Galliano chapter is also strong and includes a St Martin’s degree show ‘Incroyable’ waistcoat with matching original student sketch as well as rare and important early Galliano showpieces. For the finale to his section we present Lady Gaga’s ‘Red Bleeding’ rubber fetish look worn in her 911 video.
Day 2 of our fashion extravaganza continues with luxury and designer-wear by Chanel and Hermès before romping through fashion from the 18th century onwards decade by decade. Haute couture highlights include an incredibly rare Kitmir embroidered tunic for Gabrielle Chanel from 1922 (lightening does strike twice), one of her eponymous LBDs from 1924, a Schiaparelli ‘Hall of Mirrors’ jacket from 1938 as well as fabulous Dior, Balmain and Balenciaga evening wear. The Duchess of Windsor’s fashion choices are revealed by fashion sketches from the Houses of Dior, Grès and Saint Laurent complete with her rather blunt handwritten comments. (Lots 201-203).
A highlight of our Westwood offerings on day two is the unique pair of green mock croc Super Elevated Gillies personally autographed by Dame Vivienne herself.
Issey Miyake leads our Avant-Garde and Japanese section with a fine Issey Miyake 'Plastic Body' breastplate, Autumn-Winter 1980-81 as immortalized by Grace Jones.
Hilde Smith’s BodyMap Archive includes first print tests, large fabric samples, original designs, associated press clippings and a few garments. Hilde has provided us with the individual pattern names and also footnotes describing her design process. Her prints were a magical, integral part of the early BodyMap collections which she not only designed (pre computer graphics) but also on occasion modelled as her press clippings reveal.
Simon Costin’s creations for Lee Alexander McQueen are historically important and includes jewellery made for Lee’s degree show as well as one-off showpieces from ‘Dante’ and’ The Birds’. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for museums and collectors alike to acquire them.
Just to prove that fashion is timeless we end our sale with a fine and rare Imperial summer dragon robe, longpao, Chinese, late 19th century, possibly owned by Empress Dowager Cixi.
We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you in the saleroom.
Day One: The Mr Steven Philip Collection (part 1), lots 1-147, Tuesday 20th June, begins at 14:00 BST.
Day Two: Various Owners, luxury & designer wear, antique dress, fine haute couture, cutting edge fashion of the 20th-21st century, the Hilde Smith and Simon Costin Archives and an important Imperial robe, Wednesday 21st June, morning session (lots 148 - 365) begins at 10:00 BST. Afernoon session (lots 366 - 557) begins at 14:00 BST.
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 before the sale. 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 Westwood/McLaren SEX Original complete ensemble, 1974-75
Sold for £950
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 2 - A pair of rare Westwood/McLaren black patent 'SEX' Bondage shoes, circa 1975
Sold for £1,300
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 4 - A Westwood/McLaren Seditionaries complete Parachute /Bondage ensemble, circa 1977
Sold for £2,800
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 5 - Pete Burn's Westwood/McLaren 'Cambridge Rapist' t-shirt, 1977
Sold for £1,500
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 6 - A Westwood/McLaren Seditionaries 'Anarchy' muslin bondage shirt, circa 1977
Sold for £1,800
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 7 - A Westwood/McLaren complete 'Pirate' ensemble, Autumn-Winter, 1981-82
Sold for £12,000
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 8 - A Westwood/McLaren 'Pirate' ensemble, Autumn-Winter, 1981-82
Sold for £2,200
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 11 - A Westwood/ McLaren collection ensemble, 'Savage' collection, Spring-Summer, 1982
Sold for £1,600
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 12 - A Westwood/McLaren complete ensemble, 'Savage' collection, Spring-Summer, 1982
Sold for £2,800
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 15 - A Westwood/McLaren complete ensemble, 'Punkature' (Hobo) collection, Spring-Summer 1983
Sold for £16,000
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 16 - A Westwood/McLaren complete ensemble, 'Nostalgia of Mud' (Buffalo), Autumn-Winter, 1982-83
Sold for £1,800
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 20 - A complete ensemble, 'Witches' collection, Autumn-Winter 1983-84
Sold for £2,000
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 21 - A Westwood/McLaren outsized trench coat, 'Witches' collection, Autumn-Winter 1983-84
Sold for £2,000
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 22 - A Vivienne Westwood complete sports-inspired ensemble, 'Hypnos' Spring-Summer, 1984
Sold for £1,600
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 23 - A rare Vivienne Westwood showpiece dress, 'Hypnos' Spring-Summer 1984
Sold for £8,000
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 24 - A Vivienne Westwood giant polka-dot ensemble, 'Mini-Crini', Spring-Summer, 1986
Sold for £4,200
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 25 - A Vivienne Westwood complete denim ensemble, 'Mini-Crini', Spring-Summer, 1986
Sold for £2,400
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 26 - A Vivienne Westwood crown, 'Harris Tweed' collection, Autumn-Winter, 1987-8
Sold for £4,200
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 28 - A complete green gazar Centaurella ensemble, 'Britain Must Go Pagan', Spring-Summer, 1988
Sold for £700
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 30 - A Vivienne Westwood men's Time Machine suit, Autumn-Winter 1988-89
Sold for £1,600
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 31 - A Vivienne Westwood complete black velvet ensemble, 'Time Machine', Autumn-Winter, 1988-89
Sold for £850
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 35 - A Vivienne Westwood sari-inspired ensemble, 'Civilizade', Spring-Summer, 1989
Sold for £400
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 36 - A Vivienne Westwood men's tartan kilt ensemble, 'Time Machine', Autumn-Winter, 1988-89
Sold for £1,400
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 37 - A Vivienne Westwood men's denim ensemble, 'Cut and Slash', Spring-Summer, 1991
Sold for £3,200
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
Lot 41 - A Vivienne Westwood draped jersey corset, 'Civilizade', Spring-Summer, 1989
Sold for £440
Buyer's premium: 25% (exclusive of VAT)
