on the fabulous auction

As I'd mentioned here a while ago, there's a huge auction coming soon in London that will sell quite a lot of Audrey's wardrobe. At the time information was fairly scarce, but thanks to people finally putting out press releases and Vogue picking up on the story, we finally have some information.

Kerry Taylor Auctions will be selling a good collection of Audrey's personal and film wardrobe, every piece authenticated, on December 7 and 8. This is big news not only because it's rare to find wardrobe that has been authenticated, it's even more rare to find such a large collection being auctioned all at once. More good news out of this: half of the proceeds go directly to the Audrey Hepburn Children's Fund! What a nice surprise.

It was a surprise to learn that the clothes being auctioned off are currently part of a small touring exhibit that has or will hit New York and Paris before being displayed in London. I wish I would have known sooner! Not that I can just jet off at the drop of a hat, but so other people in the area could have advance notice. Bah. Anyway, collectors and designers are very excited about all of this and estimate that the auction could raise more than £100,000. Not too shabby! And if past auctions have been any indications, this will be a conservative lowball estimate.

So there's that! It'd be nice to have even more information come out soon, but we shall see. In the meantime, here's the article in Vogue, here's a press release via the Children's Fund site (PDF), and here's the auction page from Kerry Taylor's website with pictures and information on the lots, plus the tour dates for the exhibit. I'm afraid we've just missed New York, but if anyone is in Paris or will be December 1 and 2, you still have a chance!

P.S. For all you fashionistas out there, there looks to be quite a lot of vintage Chanel jewelry and couture up for sale as well. Absolutely gorgeous and definitely worth a look. And some Lanvin, Balenciaga, Dior, Schiaparelli, Mary Quant and, of course, Givenchy.