Event Details
JULIEN’S AUCTIONS PRESENTS “UNSTOPPABLE: SIGNATURE STYLES OF ICONIC WOMEN IN FASHION TO BE HELD ONLINE AT JULIENSLIVE.COM BEGINNING DECEMBER 11TH AND WITH ALL LOTS CLOSING JANUARY 18TH, 2024.
The month long online only auction features Julien’s Auctions latest curation of its celebrity and luxury fashion category, a stunning collection of iconic high-profile fashion looks designed by the most legendary names and houses in luxury and couture fashion and worn by the most glamourous stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood to today’s trendsetting celebrities and influencers who are defining modern luxury.
The sale will feature dazzling and rare high fashion pieces owned and worn by legendary style icons, Princess Diana, Princess Grace of Monaco, Audrey Hepburn, Sarah Jessica Parker, Elizabeth Taylor, Cher, Kim Kardashian, Nicole Kidman, Joan Collins, Donna Summer, Whitney Houston, Lady Gaga, Paris Hilton and designed by the likes of Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Dolce and Gabbana, Valentino and more, whose creations not only immortalized them as the world’s most admired and photographed women in the world but defined eras in fashion and the evolution of celebrity style, will be offered.
Highlights Include
Princess Diana broke the rules of Royal Fashion during her reign of era defining style and personal looks and fashion statements. An example is this black silk velvet cocktail dress (estimate: $100,000-$200,000). created by one of the Princess of Wales’s favorite designers and close collaborator Catherine Walker. This dress that she wore to a private event features an off-the-shoulder neckline, a princess-seamed bodice with boning, and bias-cut ivory satin accents sewn at the neckline, cuffs, and hem. Walker created Princess Diana’s most famous garments for 16 years whose designs are still worn by many of the royals today including Kate Middleton, the current Princess of Wales. Julien’s recently made global headlines in their sale of Princess Diana’s event worn gowns–a red Bruce Oldfield silk gown, a Catherine Walker bi-color gown and a custom-made black velvet and ivory gown, also designed by Catherine Walker–which sold for a total of $1.6 million at their “Legends: Hollywood and Royalty” auction with TCM.
Grace Kelly 1961 Givenchy ensemble worn to the White House with Prince Rainier to meet President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (photo left). The ensemble consists of a beautiful “Kelly-green” wool, tweed sleeveless dress with a gathered skirt that floats effortlessly between the waist and hips that she wore with an elbow-length sleeved tweed jacket with a frayed, fringe trim (estimate: $60,000-$80,000).
Three -tier tutu skirt worn by Sarah Jessica Parker on the global phenomenon, Sex and the City. The oyster white tulle three-tier tutu skirt with a matching satin waistband was worn by Parker in her Emmy award winning role in the opening credits of the HBO series during its entire run from 1997-2004. 
The skirt was selected by fashion legend Patricia Field who found it while shopping for the series in New York's garment district in a five-dollar bin. Parker's character was originally going to wear a spring 1998 Marc Jacobs runway dress (seen on Kate Moss) in the opening credits, but Field wanted to style her in something that wasn’t specific to the time so it wouldn’t date fashion-wise. After working with Sarah Jessica Parker previously on the film Miami Rhapsody, Parker asked her to costume the series whose heralded collaboration produced the much talked about and signature Sex and the City style that made Parker and her fellow castmates Cynthia Rhodes, Kristen Davis and Kim Cattrall worldwide fashion sensations. (estimate: $8,000 - $12,000)
Other Highlights Include
Galliano for Christian Dior newsprint silk chiffon strapless gown with an asymmetrical ruffled flounce hemline (estimate: $8,000 - $12,000) (photo right). This design print for Dior became a commercial success when Parker wore a similar version of the Dior Gazette newspaper printed bias-cut cocktail dress in the show’s famous season 3 episode when she has lunch with Big’s wife Natasha played by Bridget Moynahan, who confronts Carrie about her affair with her husband. Since the design’s appearance on the show, it has entered the pop zeitgeist as a coveted fashion must-have.
Audrey Hepburn Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche matelasse´ ecru gown with a blue velvet sash worn to her son Luca’s 1970 christening (estimate: $10,000 to $20,000) (photo right). The image of her wearing this delicate and demure yet stunning dress highlight Hepburn’s maternal warmth and nature and was published in the 2015 book Audrey At Home by her son Luca Dotti. The dress encompasses all the charm similar to her War and Peace costume by Maria de Mattesis with its fitted bust and Juliette sleeves.
Elizabeth Taylor Tiziani ivory jersey caftan-inspired jumpsuit designed by Karl Lagerfeld in her role as “Sissy Goforth” in the 1968 film Boom! co-starring Richard Burton. The caftan has white seashells sewn and clustered together on the neckline and cuffs and comes with matching shell pair of earrings (estimate: $4,000-$6,000).
Dame Joan Collin’s 2018 Alexander McQueen jeweled asymmetric peplum blazer designed by Sarah Burton and worn to the 2018 British Academy Britannia Awards (estimate: $3,000-$4,000).
Cher’s Dolce and Gabbana pants and shoes worn at the 2000 Vanity Fair Oscar party. The lot consists of peacock feather-hued paisley embellished brocade pants with slits, embellished with faceted pastel-colored prong set stones and gold seed beads. Accompanied by a matching pair of Dolce and Gabbana brocade sling-backs with faceted glass beaded clusters at the shoe vamps, rose pink leather-lined soles (estimate: $3,000- $5,000).
Donna Summer custom-made Louis Vuitton black pleated gown based on the finale look of Louis-Vuitton’s 2010 Cruise collection, designed by Marc Jacobs (Louis Vuitton Creative Director 1998- 2013) and Julie de Libran (who designed for Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Sonia Rykiel) during a performance at the Louis Vuitton store in London where Jacobs sang back up while Summer performed “On the Radio” (estimate: $3,000-$5,000).
A performance worn piece from one of the best-selling music artists of all time, “The Voice” Whitney Houston, takes the stage again with a Burberry London cotton trench coat with metallic gold coating worn in her performance at the Mawazine Music Festival in Morocco in 2008 and at a Caudwell Children’s Charity Meet & Greet (estimate: $3,000-$4,000) (photo right). Key design details include a wide pointed collar, epaulets, and top-stitching detail throughout.
Paris Hilton’s champagne evening dress with a seamed bustier top with midriff cut-outs between the bustier and skirt with a tulle ruffled petticoat by Mexican-American designer Louis Verdad worn on her self-titled 2006 debut album has become part of the pop culture zeitgeist, with artist Banksy altering the album cover image to expose Paris’ Hilston’s breast; Banksy planted 500 copies of the CDs in music stores in the U.K. that he signed “Paris, x” in marker with a heart over the lowercase. (estimate: $8,000 to $10,000)
Kim Kardashian’s Tadashi Shoji one-shoulder mini-dress worn to The Trevor Project’s 12th Annual Cracked Christmas at The Wiltern, Los Angeles, on December 6, 2009 (estimate: $800-1,200).
Lady Gaga white patent leather trench coat with a belt worn on April 28, 2018, on her Instagram account. The trench is from Georgian designer Tamuna Ingorovka’s Spring/Summer 2018 runway show, features a fold-over collar and notched lapel, with a storm shield at the back shoulders (estimate: $3,000-$4,000).
In addition to a regalia of celebrity-worn clothing, an array of curated designer pieces that reference each woman’s individual style along with vintage and contemporary designer and luxury pieces sought after by fashionistas and high fashion collectors will be offered. Items range from a Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche velvet ribbon bustier with tulle underlay at slits from Fall/Winter 2002 featured in look four on model Liya Kebede (estimate: $800-$1,200), a Thierry Mugler black skirt suit from 1992 to a Marc Bohan for Dior ensemble from 1979 featuring brocade harem pants (estimate: $600-$800) are among the highlights.
Other highlights include:
- A custom-made plastic-link chainmail gown made and assembled by artisan and chainmail technician Christopher Smith, the links were leftover production materials from Lord of the Rings, which Smith designed and assembled with fellow technician Carl Payne for over two years (estimate: $2,000-$3,000)
- A Chanel 2001 nylon ski suit in pale green with silver hardware and logo zipper pulls that was featured in cream in the Chanel Identification winter ad campaign (estimate: $1,500-$2,000) (photo right). Chanel Identification was an activewear line created in the '90s and produced until the early 2000s when many luxury labels created diffusion labels that branched off from their main luxury ready-to-wear label
- A custom-made iridescent white sequin evening gown by Academy award winning costume designer Ann Roth worn by Nicole Kidman as Joanna Eberhart in the 2004 film The Stepford Wives (estimate: $1,000-$2,000)
- An original headpiece designed by Argentinean artist and curator of Yves Saint Laurent’s couture archive Hector Pascual for a guest attending Marie-Helen de Rothschild’s 1972 Surrealist Ball (estimate: $2,000-$3,000)
- Pieces from Comme des Garcons’ fall 2012 runway collection featuring designer Rei Kawakubo’s two-piece ensemble of a red felt wool jacket with an applique pink spaced floral motif throughout and a tie-closure at the neckline, paired with a pair of cropped pink wool jodhpurs (estimate: $800-$1,200)
- Gianni Versace’s spring/summer 1991 fashion show bodycon bright and colorful piece blazer dress of black wool with large gold filigree buttons with neon-colored baroque patterned silk accents at the cuffs and pockets. The lot comes with a bubblegum pink leather clutch accented with the brand’s signature Medusa emblem with Versace’s iconic power suit design (estimate: $800-$1,200)
- A wool knit hat with a Peruvian-inspired pattern with a frayed yarn Mohawk affixed to the top of the hat, designed by creative director John Galliano for Dior fall of 2002 (estimate: $2,000-$3,000) Galliano’s fall 2002 Dior collection featured a variety of cultural references to South American, Tibetan, Mongolian, Indian, and Middle Eastern garments. Vogue writer Sarah Mower who reviewed the collection wrote about how Galliano rebuilt the fashion houses' foundations introducing cultural prints and techniques that have become a part of the label's design DNA
- A Givenchy haute couture dress from 1956, owned by legendary screen actress Gloria Swanson, consisting of a fitted bodice with a bateau neckline, a full A-line skirt, and elbow-length sleeves, featuring a pinafore-style accent (estimate: $1,000-$2,000)