
LONDON — Kerry Taylor Auctions is set to sell clothing from the closets of two leading ladies of London culture — Marianne Faithfull, the musician and Rolling Stones muse who died last January, and Zandra Rhodes, the colorful fashion and textile designer who dressed Princess Diana, among other celebrities.
Both collections will go up for auction as part of Kerry Taylor’s wider “Passion for Fashion” sale on June 17 in London. Viewings will take place in the days preceding the sale at Kerry Taylor Auctions in Bermondsey, south London.
The auction features 20 pieces from Faithfull’s most recent wardrobe, including a John Galliano suit, a tailored Alaïa leather coat with a nipped waist, and a Chloé by Natacha Ramsay-Levi pony-embroidered ensemble.
A black, double-breasted satin Chanel haute couture jacket by Karl Lagerfeld from 1998 is the most expensive piece in the auction, with an estimate of 600 pounds to 1,000 pounds.
Alex Baddeley, a specialist at Kerry Taylor, said the auction is a celebration of Faithfull “not only as a musical and cultural trailblazer, but also as a fashion icon, whose personal style resonated with authenticity and defiance. Each piece in this collection tells a story of a woman whose life and art were inseparable from what she wore.”
Marianne Faithfull and actress Anita Pallenberg at Heathrow Airport to fly to Tangiers with their Rolling Stones boyfriends, March 1967.
Getty Images
The auction will take place one week after the worldwide release to streaming platforms of Faithfull’s final EP, “Burning Moonlight.” It will be followed by the reissue of her complete Decca recordings later in the summer.
Faithfull, a musician, Rolling Stones muse and a symbol of Swinging ’60s style — and excess — recorded 21 studio albums and remained a legend well into her later years. She even played God in a few episodes of “Absolutely Fabulous.”
She bonded with the fashion crowd, too, especially Chloé and Karl Lagerfeld, who dressed her in Chanel outfits for her 2011 tour for the album “Horses and High Heels.”
“It’s my look, really: black trousers, beautiful shirts and a jacket. It’s very simple,” she told WWD in an interview at the time.
She adored Lagerfeld, and recalled fondly when the two used to “rave around” New York when “I was in my 30s and Karl was in his 40s.”
The 84-year-old Rhodes, a woman who throbs with color from her flouro pink hair down to her flower-painted sneakers, is an altogether different character — but just as flamboyant as Faithfull.
The designer, who published her memoir, “Iconic: My Life in Fashion in 50 Objects” (Bantam), last year, has dressed celebrities ranging from Freddie Mercury to Princess Diana and Barbra Streisand.
The 92 Rhodes pieces are from the designer’s personal archive, and range from her 1969 black felt Circle coat through to designs of the 2000s, plus one dress that was worn by Princess Diana. Each of them was hand-printed and handmade in her London studio.
Zandra Rhodes
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
“A curated selection of my most treasured, statement garments will find new homes around the world,” said the designer.
“Kerry’s exceptional eye has found chiffon caftans from my very first collection, beaded evening gowns worn by Hollywood icons and royalty, experimental coats, pleated satin jackets and wonderful boho pieces made in my renaissance period in the early 2000s,” said Rhodes.
A silk chiffon dress worn by Princess Diana carries the highest estimate in the auction, 10,000 to 15,000 pounds. It’s from Rhodes’ fall/winter 1985-86 India Revisited collection.
It features a hand-printed “buttons and bows” design and is hand-embellished with pearls. “Princess Diana tried it on in my beautiful Grafton Street shop, just off the most exclusive part of Bond Street. I personally fitted her, and we created a bespoke version precisely to her measurements,” said Rhodes.
Rhodes put the dress aside and kept it in her archive. It comes with a letter of provenance signed by the designer.
Zandra Rhodes with models Pat Cleveland, Alva Chinn, Carla Araque, Chris Royer, and Billy Blair in looks from her fall 1976 “Fantasies” collection.
Nick Machalaba/Fairchild Archive
#Marianne #Faithfulls #Black #Satin #Chanel #Jacket #Sold #Auction