The Mr Steven Philip Collection (part 1) & Passion for Fashion

Auction: June 20^th and 21^st

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.

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