LONDON.- Christie’s announced a first for the international fashion world: the single-owner online-only auction of IN MY FASHION: The Suzy Menkes Collection, which will open for bids on 11 July and run for two weeks until 22 July 2013. Awarded an O.B.E by Her Majesty the Queen (Order of the British Empire) for her services to journalism in 2005, and made a Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur in France the same year, Suzy Menkes is an iconic fashion journalist who is held in the highest esteem by designers, models, fellow journalists and fashion followers around the globe. Comprising just over 80 lots, the collection features an inspiring array of dresses, coats, skirts, tops, jackets and accessories by a cross spectrum of the most revered names in fashion from Ossie Clark and Emilio Pucci, to Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Lacroix. All the pieces highlight Suzy’s beliefs that colour and pattern make every day joyous and that clothes are like friends: they have to complement your personality, your hopes and desires. Estimates for individual lots start at £200, with the majority on offer for under £1,000. The star lot of the sale is an Yves Saint Laurent cocktail jacket from his 1980 collection 'le soleil' (estimate: £1,000-2,000).
Suzy Menkes noted: “I have never thrown anything out of my wardrobe since 1964. If I had a large open space in my home, I would dedicate it, like an art gallery, to my collection. But there is something sad about clothes laid in a tomb of trunks. They need to live again and this auction provides the opportunity for them to walk out in the sunshine, to dance the night away and to give someone else the joy that they gave to me.”
Pat Frost, Director of Christie’s Fashion Department commented: “There are some people who seem to see further than others and Suzy Menkes is one of those. Whenever you speak to her – on the occasion of the Anna Piaggi and Daphne Guinness sales, for example – you always get something beyond the ordinary run of conversation. You can always rely on her to put a collection into context and see beyond the hype. I was therefore delighted when she told us she had decided to entrust Christie’s with the sale of her wardrobe, as I knew that this was not going to be a wardrobe full of fashionable black uniforms. As she says, clothes are like friends – in this case good friends who conjure up good times.
Suzy was an ‘early adopter’ of Christian Lacroix, who embodies in his designs her love of colour and embellishment. She is selling more than ten pieces from his most formative period, as well as gems from Yves Saint Laurent, including a ‘Soleil’ jacket and some key tuxedo trouser suits. There are also summery Pucci printed outfits dating from her Cambridge friendship with Emilio Pucci’s niece in the 1960s and Ossie Clark's from Swinging 1970s London. Christie’s is very much looking forward to the conversations these pieces have already started.”
The very same romantic cream silk crepe full length Ossie Clark dress printed with a Celia Birtwell floral design, with a matching quilted jacket (estimate: £1,000-2,000) is offered alongside further Ossie highlights including an early 1970s wrap-around black, diaphanous chiffon gown printed with a Celia Birtwell tulip motif (estimate: £1,000-2,000). Bill Gibb was pre-eminent among London’s elite designers for his flowing knitted ensembles and embroidered, butter soft leathers exemplified by a three quarter length, café au lait brown suede coat with fur collar, embroidered with peacocks.
Such a combination is exemplified by a dramatic Christian Lacroix printed silk ensemble with matching over-sized handbag, 1980s (estimate: £300 – 500).
Transporting one’s imagination straight back to that fateful Fiat 500 journey, is a classic 1960s Emilio Pucci sleeveless summer dress of silk jersey, which is printed in bright colours with a floral meander and Emilio signatures, trimmed with a matching belt fastening with a rouleau bow (estimate: £250 – 350).
A tailored three quarter length multi-coloured trench coat in harlequin printed wool by Paul Smith, 2004 (estimate: £200 – 400) provides a further riotous celebration of colour, reminiscent of a modernist painting.
A 1980s Yves Saint Laurent ivory trouser suit composed of straight trousers and a tailored jacket with deep-knotched lapels conjures this time and is also reminiscent of the white trouser suits Bianca Jagger was pictured in at Studio 54 (estimate: £300 – 500, illustrated left).
Further Yves Saint Laurent highlights include a cocktail jacket from his 1980 collection 'le soleil' (estimate: £1,000-2,000). Boasting a pistachio green body with candy pink and blue sleeves and embroidered with a sequined sun collar and cuffs in homage to Schiaparelli, this is the jacket that Suzy wore to her first catwalk show as Fashion Editor of the International Herald Tribune in 1988. Capturing the very essence of classic Chanel is a 1980s ivory wool jacket, trimmed with plaited black braid, black buttons with gilt wire, appliqué endless knots and weighted with a gilt chain at the hem (estimate: £300-500).
ACCESSORIES
Suzy Menkes noted: “I have never been a ‘bag lady’ – toting around a one season wonder to wear with a pair of jeans and a leather jacket. My style has always been to choose the charming and quirky, with the least logos, rather than the ‘it’ bag. For jewellery, my taste is bold. And I think that Hermès scarves are so perfectly framed that they ought to hang on a wall, rather than just around my neck.”
An example of such masterful Hermès design is highlighted by a ‘Napoleon’ silk scarf which is offered as a single lot alongside a printed silk shirt (estimate: £300-500).
Playful accessories range from a personalised Chanel ‘Suzy’ clutch bag, with gilt lettering, in quilted satin, with diamond stitching, from the 1980s (estimate:£1,000-3,000), to a pair of Christian Dior sunglasses which are offered as a single lot with a scarf (estimate: £200-400).
