Take a Trip to London: A RIGHT ROYAL AFFAIR! Passion for Fashion Auction, March 17 th 2011
In the lead up to the next Royal wedding, we are delighted to announce the sale of the dress that may have started it all. The see-through knitted lace dress designed by Charlotte Todd and modelled by Kate Middleton at the annual St Andrew’s University charity fashion show in 2002, is being auctioned with an estimate of £8,000-10,000.
Charlotte Todd was studying a degree in fashion/textile design at the University of the West of England in 2000, working on a project appropriately entitled `The Art of Seduction' when she produced this garment. It took around a week to make and was actually intended as a skirt rather than a dress. She was invited by the organisers to submit a garment for the annual St Andrew's University charity fashion show. This piece was selected for Kate Middleton to wear and it was decided that it should be worn as a dress rather than a skirt - and the rest as they say is history!
Charlotte Todd says of the piece, "If it is true that my design helped changed the Prince's interest in Kate from platonic to romantic as has been reported, then I am pleased to have played a part - however minor. I never would have imagined as I sat knitting this piece that one day it would be so important".
Charlotte Todd with the dress she designed, which was worn by Kate Middleton at the St Andrew's University charity fashion show, designed by Charlotte Todd, 2002.
The Royal theme continues with two important and unique gowns worn by HRH the Princess of Wales.
The Zandra Rhodes pink chiffon dinner gown worn by HRH the Princess of Wales for her Official State visit to Japan, 1986
Estimate £30,000-40,000
The Princess wore this gown to a State Banquet in Kyoto, during her official visit to Japan on the 9th May, 1986. She is photographed wearing the gown whilst seated at the banquet, taking instruction on how to eat with chopsticks (hers are the wrong way round in the photo). News-reel footage exists showing the Princess on the tour, wearing this dress, joking with Prince Charles as to who had managed to eat the most whilst using their chopsticks, and mischievously widening her eyes when she surveyed the food courses yet to arrive. Sadly, although still undeniably beautiful, she appears very thin in the photographs as she was suffered a particularly bad bout of bulimia on this tour.
Zandra Rhodes remembers the Princess commissioning this gown for her overseas tour. She popped into her shop in Grafton Street, un-announced (something she had a habit of doing) and pointed out a dress of this design which was made in black with fluorescent pink print. Zandra suggested changing the colour to this pale rose shade with ivory print. The commission took a further two fittings to complete which took place in the Princess's private apartments at Kensington Palace. The gown took three days to make and this print and colour-way remain exclusive to the Princess. This gown was clearly something of a favourite as it was also worn by the Princess to attend a Torvill & Dean party, July, 1985 and to Charleston Manor, Seaford, Britain, in aid of the London City Ballet and the Purcell School, July, 1987.
The Catherine Walker formal white lace evening gown worn by HRH the Princess of Wales for a state visit to France, November, 1988
Estimate £40,000-60,000
Princess Diana specially commissioned this robe for her official State visit to France and chose it to wear at a dinner hosted by the French Minister of Culture, Jacques Lang at the Chateau de Chambord and was made by her favourite designer the late Catherine Walker.
She advised Diana for that for the visit to France:
"Don't wear any cheap clothes, The French will knock you". By that I did not mean that she should only wear my designs, but she had developed complete trust in me, and, being French, I felt I had the right to say it. We had to focus a little harder for the French tour, and when Diana saw how good the response was, she realised that these more "serious designs" had worked for her… I was applying my growing knowledge of men's tailoring techniques as I cut her dress patterns, and in so doing I tried to hone a clean silhouette that matched my own brief for the formality and presence I wanted Diana to have. She too saw how the slim elongation of the torso increased her poise and matched her clean smile and openness of face… In the early eighties Diana's designs had to be more elaborate, had to look special in a particular way, and all the little details - the buttons, the binding - helped to reflect this. It felt as though Diana needed a sort of royal uniform that was a legacy from eighteenth century English court dressing, while etiquette decreed that sartorial finery and rich apparel were appropriate. Her designs could not be simple".
The third Royal strand of the sale relates to another 20th century style icon. We are proud to announce the sale of an important collection of Duchess of Windsor accessories, jewellery and Lingerie, sold to benefit the Dodi International Charitable Foundation.
The Duchess of Windsor once described her luxurious lifestyle as `Wallis in Wonderland’. Behind the doors of her Paris home the wardrobes were filled with superb couture gowns and cupboards crammed with luxury bags, shoes and drawers of sumptuous lingerie. In 1998 the majority of the house contents were auctioned by Sotheby’s New York. However, some pieces were held back and it is these that largely make up the collection being offered for sale, which have been stored in Windsors’ home in the Bois de Boulogne since her death.
In contrast to her renowned `less is more’ style code - where Wallis turned sobriety into something of an art-form, a glimpse into the drawer containing her lingerie shows an entirely different side to her. The sublime bias-cut confections that were her nightwear give an intimation of the sensuousness and secret allure of the Duchess. Cut on the bias, with delicate appliqué work and lace insertions they come in romantic sugary pink and lemon tones. More unexpected are those of shocking pink chiffon edged in black Chantilly and scarlet chiffon with delicate Honiton lace applications. For someone regularly branded by the establishment as a `scarlet’ woman (for her three marriages and numerous liaisons) it is amusing to see that she actually chose red for bed! Always a stickler for perfection, she insisted that even her bed linen was ironed and replaced on her bed twice a day. A simple but beautifully cut ivory crêpe de chine example displays her cypher of interlinked `W’s (Wallis Windsor) embroidered in red and blue silk. Estimates for the nightwear range from £300-800 each.
Her handbags by Cartier, Schiaparelli, Vivier and others are likewise of superb quality; only the best would do. One of the most intriguing is a black crocodile bag by Christian Dior. The Duke once said of her `The Duchess loves Paris because it’s not too far from Dior’. The silvered rings on the clasp are engraved with the date `W E 30 X 1934'. The bag was presumably an anniversary gift from the Duke to the Duchess. `WE’ signified their joined initials and was also regularly used on other gifts `We are Too’ (meaning too much in love). By October 1934 the Prince of Wales’s relationship with Wallis had deepened. He had taken her (accompanied by her aunt Bessie as token chaperone) on a romantic holiday along the Italian coast. The 30th of October date was obviously of great romantic and private significance to the pair. Estimates on the handbags range from £600-£8000.
Fashion as Art
A fine and important Yves Saint Laurent couture `Mondrian' dress, Autumn-Winter, 1965
Estimate £25,000-35,000
Estimate £25,000-35,000
This sale of around 300 lots includes superb haute couture gowns by master creators such as Christian Dior, Cristobal Balenciaga, Gabrielle Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. One of the most striking and historically important pieces is a `Mondrian’ Collection gown, designed by Yves Saint Laurent in 1965. It comes from the renowned Sandy Schreier Collection, one of the finest private couture collections in the world.
This Mondrian gown is made even rarer because it is made of silk rather than the more commonly found wool. Yves Saint Laurent personally told US collector Sandy Schreier that he made just two couture dresses in silk of this design. The other example he donated to the Victoria & Albert museum collection.
Sale: March 17th at 2pm
Exhibition: March 16th 9am – 5pm, March 17th 9am-11am
Contact for more information and images:
info@kerrytaylorauctions.com or 00 44 (0) 208 676 4600
Online catalogue: www.kerrytaylorauctions.com
