October
Vintage Fashion, Antique Costume & Textiles
Lot: 301 to 563 - 24th Oct, 2023 14:00 GMT+1/BST
We can predict with fair certainty that our October auction will always be an exciting event, but what we didn’t foresee written in the stars is that this sale would include the show-stopping wardrobe of Britain’s most famous astrologer: Mystic Meg! Glamorous, mysterious, colourful and unique - the collection reflects her personality and individualistic style. Meg was a Leo ruled by the sun and she loved colour, the bolder the better. Passionate purple is Leo’s key lucky shade, and starring in the sale is Lot 300- Mystic Meg’s instantly recognizable purple cloak and smock with dramatic pointed collar, along with her very own crystal ball! (Lot 103). The collection of bespoke clothing is bursting with colours of the night sky to dawn, made in rich velvets and glistening brocades, with printed stars and ‘cat’s eyes’ hidden amongst the designs, expressing her love of astrology and felines. A lifelong lover of animals, Mystic Meg is described as generous and kind by those who were closest to her, so it is fitting that her collection (Lots 96-105) is being sold in aid of animal welfare charity, Blue Cross.
The Rodeo has also ‘come to town’ in another unexpected addition to our 24th October sale: Lots 268-286 comprise a collection of Western fashions by Rodeo Ben, Fay Ward and legendary tailor Nudie Cohn. Famous for his flamboyant designs and extravagant use of rhinestones, ‘Nudie Suits’ have been worn by country-rock stars including Elvis Presley, Elton John, and a myriad of ‘rhinestone cowboys’ in between!
Also featured in this sale are superb examples of 19th century fashion, including an unusual sporting corset with pink stars, c.1890 (Lot 445), a charming c.1880 bridal gown with original matching shoes (Lot 473), a rare adolescent girls’ dress, c.1890 (Lot 468), and a dressmaker’s sample miniature version made around the same date (Lot 471). We are honored to include the lace collection of the late Stephen Lunn, which includes a fine Brussels point de Gaze shawl, circa 1860 (Lot 533), amongst others. For those of you who love the more recent fashion of the 1980s, 1990s and beyond, we have rails of superb Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano and Alexander McQueen. Highlights include a Westwood 'Marlene' denim ensemble, 'Always on Camera' collection, Autumn-Winter 1992-93 (Lot 137) and a Sarah Burton for McQueen ‘butterfly wing’ jacquard coat, Autumn-Winter 2018-19 (Lot 95).
A treasure trove of a sale, this auction comprises over 500 Lots of exciting antique, vintage and luxury fashion. We hope you have as much fun browsing the sale as we have had in preparing it for you, and look forward to assisting you with your bids.
Morning session, lots 1-300, begins at 9.00am BST. The afternoon session, lots 301-563, will begin at 2pm 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.
June
The Mr Steven Philip Collection (part 1) & Passion for Fashion
Lot: 148 to 365 - 21st Jun, 2023 10:00 GMT+1/BST
Lot: 366 to 557 - 21st Jun, 2023 14:00 GMT+1/BST
Catalogue: Download PDF catalogue
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.
March
Vintage Fashion, Antique Costume & Textiles
Lot: 251 to 556 - 21st Mar, 2023 14:00 GMT+1/BST
Catalogue: Download PDF catalogue
Our first auction of the year is a bumper one - over 550 lots of vintage fashion, textiles and accessories – so hopefully something to interest everyone?
Stuck for something to wear to this year’s Met Gala Ball? Then look no further – see lot 183, the scarlet satin surrealist hat made to Karl Lagerfeld’s design by London milliner Kirstin Woodward in 1985. It is not only desirable as a wearable accessory but is also museum quality having previously been included in FIT’s Fashion & Surrealism exhibition, October 30, 1987-January 23, 1988. Isabelle Pascoe was photographed wearing a pink example for British Vogue, December, 1985. Vogue stated,
‘'A surreal trick of judgement with wild surmise. Surprise? Classic distortion, upholstery, plat du jour perch above the stark silhouette of something sexy and understated.'"
At Christmas, the fashion world lost its honorary Queen: Dame Vivienne Westwood and she is well represented in our sale. Highlights include Lot 160, the sleeved ‘Boucher’ corset, ‘Portrait’ collection, Autumn-Winter 1990-91, and Lot 184, which comprises a red velvet corset, ‘Harris Tweed’ collection, Autumn-Winter 1987-88 and rare ‘mini-crini’, Spring-Summer 1985. We even have a photograph showing the original beautiful owner wearing the corset, dancing the night away in the Kinky Gerlinky night club!
We offer the ‘Lucinda Portobello Collection, Part I’. Lucinda Alford was a major player in the London Vintage fashion scene for many decades. She was renowned for her exceptional eye and eclectic taste, which is evident throughout the rails filled with pretty 1930s floral chiffons, romantic Edwardian dresses, dreamy bohemian gowns and colourful prints, starkly contrasted by the brutal minimalism of pieces by one of Lucinda’s great loves: Martin Margiela.
Families gathering around their TV’s in the UK on Saturday nights during the 1960s would have been familiar with the Kaye Sisters who achieved huge fame during the late 50s and 60s with hits including 'Paper Roses’ and ‘Handed Down’. They performed in numerous Royal Command Performances at the London Palladium, as well as TV variety shows hosted by Max Bygraves and others. The three singers – Shan, Carole and Shiela, weren’t actually sisters but had matching blonde hairstyles to suggest a familial resemblance. Their preferred costumier was Douglas Darnell who also produced many of Shirley Bassey’s most glittering costumes. Shan Kaye’s razzle-dazzle stage outfits dripping in faux gems, shimmering with beads are lots 343-346.
We also feature a selection of fine antique costume & textiles from around the world, including Lot 554, a brocaded summer dragon robe - jifu, Chinese, circa 1900, Lot 539, an embroidered wool scarf, Zoroastrian, Yazd, Persia, 19th century.
We hope you enjoy browsing this sale as much as we have enjoyed creating it for you and look forward to assisting you with condition reports and bidding.
Morning session, lots 1-250, begins at 9.30am GMT. The afternoon session, lots 251-556, will begin at 2pm GMT.
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.