WHAT: ‘Tis the season to don glad rags for holiday fetes. We’re aware of the difference between off-the-rack and couture, but few understand the gap between couture and runway. Custom items made expressly to wear or to accessorize couture as it is unveiled in major fashion shows where models walk the runway are coveted by savvy fashionistas including Daphne Guinness and similar fab mortals.
Some 40 items created by British jewelry designer Shaun Leane for Alexander McQueen sold at Sotheby’s early this month in an “A Life of Luxury” auction. The result amounted to $2.6 million as private collectors and institutions fought over signature pieces of fashion history.
MORE: Made for McQueen’s runway collections from 1966-2008 (the designer died in 2010), Leane’s creations for McQueen are wearable art of base metal. Sold pieces included a coiled corset that sold for $807,000 and the $711,000 skeleton corset shown with this column.
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SMART COLLECTORS KNOW: An 18K white gold evening glove created for Daphne Guinness and worn by Lady Gaga brought $312,500. Decorated with over 4,000 diamonds, the single chainmail glove titled “Contra Mundum” (Against the World) is mid-arm length, has an engraved knuckle cover, and is embellished with branches and birds in flight; plus, it has solid pointed fingertip covers.
HOT TIP: Alexander McQueen represents 1990s and 2000s London when it was fashion capitol of the world. Perhaps the most creative designer of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, he is now remembered as a visionary.
BOTTOM LINE: When Leane’s “Silver Crown of Thorns Headpiece,” looking exactly like its name, sold to a phone bidder for $137,500, the house broke into applause.
MORE: I wish each reader, your families and loved ones a sane, safe, healthy and happy 2018. Thanks for reading “Smart.” I treasure you all!
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