Got a penchant for vintage fashion and unlimited budgetary means? You're in luck as there are some pretty fabulous items coming up for sale over the next couple of weeks. London shop of legend, WilliamVintage have a month residency at Selfridges, Christie's will be auctioning Elizabeth Taylor's first Helen Rose-designed wedding dress, while Kerry Taylor is hosting one of her renowned sales this coming Tuesday.
The Kerry Taylor auction is being reported as a sale of Diana Vreeland's wardrobe but, in fact, the Vreeland clothes make for only a fraction of the total, including Yves Saint Laurent jackets and her ivory cigarette holder. The sale also includes gloves from the Duchess of Windsor and a McQueen cocktail gown created specially for Isabella Blow. There are many fabulous pieces coming from unknown patrons too, from a French eighteenth-century revolutionary skirt to the very feminine 1956 Chanel dress pictured. On a far less grand sale, I loved reading 'For Emma: A Tale About an Estate Sale' on the Adored Vintage blog, a gentle speculation about an apparently impeccably dressed woman's life.
Talking about impeccably dressed lives, I was interested to hear the Valentino Resort collection was inspired by Marisa Berenson. If the square shapes and decided lack of jewellery, turbans and gloves in this image of the collection are confusing you, it's apparently because it's inspired by Marisa Berenson in her boarding school years. Oh okay. (I definitely think school girl Marisa would worn an against-the-rules necklace, and perhaps a boater at a jaunty angle.)
For some proper 1970s style, let's go back to the world conjured up by The Beautiful Fall book, a wonderful evocation of that period in Paris. That's where I was introduced to Loulou de la Falaise, but also first learnt about the work of Antonio Lopez. There was a lovely piece on his photography work on Russh, from which the above picture of Jerry Hall was taken. Of course, the main protagonists of that book were Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. This week Karl Lagerfeld got his own computer game, while Mason Bentley Style shared the story that Yves's Parisian apartment is open for visits until 21 July (oh, why didn't I know this before last's weekend's trip?!). In the absence of being able to go there, you can play online dress up of some virtual paper dolls.
The New York Times wrote a rather more effusive post about Les Journées Particulières than my own, while I've been earmarking out two further fashion related excursions. First, to Edinburgh to see the hundred years of Conde Nast photography exhibition, and then to Antwerp to see the exhibition at MoMu devoted to the city's Royal Academy of Fine Arts - I loved reading this story about the "Antwerp Six" reunion. Plus, last time I went to Antwerp I drank lots of gin and ate loads of moules et frites and Belgian chocs, so there are plenty of good reasons to make a return visit.
And finally, something to drool over and something else to mull over: The new look cover of Oh Comely is gorgeous; while Vanessa Friedman's post on the power of dress, specifically in relation to "the woman in the red dress" photograph from the Turkish protests.
Have a great weekend.
So, are you going to the Kerry Taylor auction? If so, then pick up that cigarette holder for me please.
ReplyDeleteThat Karl game is super annoying, but then, so is Karl, I suppose!