Fair Warning, the app-based, members-only auction house, has invited Peter Brant Jr., son of publishing magnate Peter Brant and supermodel Stephanie Seymour, to curate a sale of 23 exceptionally rare works of fashion history.
Titled “The Impossible Couture Collection,” the lots read like a wish list for collectors, including the opening look of Alexander McQueen’s last show “Plato’s Atlantis” straight from Naomi Campbell’s personal archive (Armadillo shoes included); a 1965 Yves Saint Laurent “Mondrian” dress, and several pieces by John Galliano, which could potentially start a bidding war now that the controversial designer has backed out of the Met exhibit in his honor.
Brant Jr., who worked summers as a schoolboy at Sotheby’s, has been making a name for himself recently on the New York gallery scene. It wasn’t until his father introduced him to Löic Gouzer, the founder and chief executive officer of Fair Warning, that he got the offer to apply those skills to a new medium.
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“I was thinking of doing a fashion auction for a while, but recently at a dinner I was talking to Peter and I realized he was the right guy to lead it,” Gouzer said.
Brant Jr. added: “Loïc told me about his success a few years ago selling an incredible Paco Rabanne dress and that he would like to create a department at Fair Warning to expand their foray into vintage couture. As an enthusiast and collector of archival fashion myself, I was immediately attracted to the concept.”
The pair agreed that a show would be the best way to kick off their collaboration. So before hitting Fair Warning’s virtual auction block Sept. 17 at 3 p.m. EST, “The Impossible Couture Collection” will walk the runway Friday evening during New York Fashion Week at Brant Jr.’s Gilded Age carriage house on the Upper East Side.
“The idea was to really have these pieces come alive in an intimate and beautiful setting that would place fine art and our friends and clients from all backgrounds together in a social setting very much inspired by the Paris maison shows of the first half of the 20th century,” Brant Jr. said. “We wanted to give our audience an opportunity to feel really at home with these pieces and view them closely to observe how they move.”
Seduction through movement will clearly be a theme: three of Galliano’s draped bias gowns, previously owned by his right-hand man of many years Jørgen Simonsen, mirror the body-conscious lines of three more dresses by the “King of Cling” Azzedine Alaïa spanning the ’80s and ’90s.
Other, more peculiar items, include a gold Elsa Schiaparelli insect collar and a gilet by Martin Margiela made entirely of papier-mâche. But, undoubtedly, the stars are Saint Laurent’s “Mondrian” dress and the “Plato’s Atlantis” look, which are expected to fetch upward of half-a-million and a million dollars, respectively.
Even if those figures seem high, according to Gouzer, the most significant pieces of vintage couture are still largely undervalued on the resale market. He made the comparison to the art world, where works by a no-name can be worth hundreds-of-thousands of dollars. “And then you see absolute masterpieces by total genius designers of their time selling for a fraction of that— it makes no sense.”
Gouzer predicts a “massive reappraisal” of fashion is underway, with celebrity red carpet moments and the industry’s dissemination into mainstream culture fueling demand. Case-in-point: the glut of headlines surrounding Galliano and the controversial plans by Anna Wintour and The Met to hold a retrospective of his career.
Earlier this summer, Gouzer made headlines himself after facilitating the sale of Banksy’s “Girl and Balloon on Found Landscape” at the Tiffany & Co. Landmark store on Fifth Avenue. Topping early estimates at $18 million, it is now the street artist’s third most expensive work on record.
”The Impossible Couture Collection” will be displayed for public viewing from Saturday to Sept. 17.
