PARIS.- Sotheby’s announced its second sale of Haute Couture to take place in Paris on Tuesday 3 October. In association with Kerry Taylor Auctions, it will offer at auction 140 Petites robes noires, “little back dresses” from the private collection of Didier Ludot. Sotheby’s offered a glimpse of Ludot’s collection in July 2015, when legendary items by the greatest Paris couturiers were exhibited at the Galerie Charpentier, attracting the keen interest of major collectors, women who wished to buy to wear, alike. This second sale celebrates an iconic garment - La petite robe noire (the little black dress), a timeless wardrobe staple that has fascinated couturiers, flattered women and enchanted men for almost a century.
The sale on 3 October will offer a fresh look at this fashion classic as Ludot again calls on Sotheby’s savoir-faire to sell part of his collection. “Today I pay tribute to the astonishing story of the little black dress and to the designers who wrote its story, a dizzying tale that finds itself retold in the catalogue, from the Roaring Twenties to the new millennium. Lovingly collected, these pieces – whose estimates range between 800 and 5,000 euros – were created by the greatest of couturiers, from Chanel to Jean Patou to Marc Vaughan. Some of these dresses, by Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Balmain or Yohji Yamamoto, have previously been loaned to the Metropolitan Museum in New York. A group of twenty by Christian Dior worthily celebrate the 70th anniversary of that distinguished house. And as the little black dress doesn’t like to go out by itself, it will be accompanied at the sale by Roger Vivier pumps and a selection of furs.”
Didier Ludot, the dealer in vintage Haute Couture famous in Paris as the “fashion antiquarian”, hardly needs an introduction. His name is already known to cultivated fashion-lovers in search of a unique piece, rich with history, that will lend new chic to their wardrobes. Women from all over the world know Ludot’s boutique in the arcades of the Palais Royal, where they find the best of old and new. Alongside his business, Didier Ludot has built up, over a period of almost forty years, a private collection of rare and important pieces by the greatest designers.
He is also the author of La petite robe noire, published by Assouline in September 2001, is considered an essential work of reference on the subject. Eight years later, he curated an exhibition on the Little black dress mounted in the windows of the Ministry of Culture, just around the corner from his shop.
The Little black dress from its birth in 1926, under the aegis of Coco Chanel, through its role in Nouvelle vague cinema and to the recent creations of Viktor and Rolf, the sale traces the story of the little black dress through almost a century of fashion history. “There should be no misunderstanding about that adjective ‘little’. … It is an expression of the woman’s emotional attachment to the dress she wears. For the little black dress is much more than an item of clothing. It is the symbol of Parisian chic, the very model of refinement, the sensual armour slipped on by generations of women who have found themselves transformed by a sublime raiment that forgives their failings and glorifies their virtues, turning heads everywhere it went. Its ambassadors have been Monica Vitti, Jeanne Moreau, Delphine Seyrig, Catherine Deneuve and Monica Bellucci. An object of must-haves for some, it is an inexhaustible inspiration of fantasy for others. While it may be ‘little’ in size – the black dress has always been worn short – it is immense in the story it tells.” (Didier Ludot)
Shoes by Roger Vivier
To complete the look, the catalogue also includes a dozen creations by Roger Vivier, some of them extremely rare, designed for Christian Dior and embroidered by Rebé. The colour and brilliance of these delicate shoes perfectly set off the sobriety of the little black dress. One might mention, among other triumphs, a pair of pumps with Ottoman toe, and another in duck-blue silk trimmed in kingfisher feathers.
Kerry Taylor, specialist fashion auctioneer says of the collection: “Didier Ludot has a genius for spotting historically important dresses which are at the same time super-wearable which makes the gowns objects of desire on so many levels. Although some may be regarded as museum pieces – I’m sure that others will be seen at elegant soirees in the years to come.”
