The auction house, Christie’s, have just announced that they will be hosting a Balenciaga sale on December 9th in London. Anne Moen Bullitt’s entire wardrobe of the Forties through to the Sixties is being taken under the hammer. It promises to be one of the most elaborate fashion sales to grace the world of auction houses in a very long time.
The lady in question was born in Paris to an ambassador father and journalist mother. Whilst she studied, she met some of the world’s most renowned men namely Freud and Roosevelt, who were both her father’s close acquaintances. She then became a true socialite and heartbreaker, marrying four times until she finally settled in Ireland. Her love for fashion began much earlier, in the late Forties, when she moved to Madrid with her second husband, Nicholas Duke Biddle; a vice consul in the American embassy in Spain, and began frequenting Cristobal Balenciaga's ateliers in Madrid.
The auction will have all of Bullit’s most beautiful gowns, from featherlight evening dresses to sharply cut suits, and amounts to the most extensive Fifties Balenciaga wardrobe to be offered to the market in the last 20 years. From Forties New York, to Fifties Madrid, to Sixties Paris and Ireland, Bullitt's collection documents the evolution of her personal taste and of the mores of fashion in each decade.
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During the Sixties Bullitt shifted her loyalty from wasp-waisted Balenciaga to Lanvin for suits and evening wear, while the Seventies and Eighties saw her begin to favour Emanuel Ungaro's ready-to-wear Parallèle collections. Also available at auction is Bullitt's collection of Hermes handbags, rare Fifties Hattie Carnegie suits, dresses by Jacques Fath and Yves Saint Laurent, and an array of Irish couture by Sybil Connelly.
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I have heard through the grapevine that the woman was especially slim with a very small waist, so the sale will only be of interest to a few lucky (and wealthy) ladies out there. Regardless of this fact, I shall most definitely be attending this social event in the fashion calendar. Such events tend to gather some interesting crowds with a lot of very silly things to say. It will also be a great opportunity to see the dresses live and discover who the privileged ladies in the audience will be to obtain the highest bids. Vogue and Tatler are publicising the event as if it was their wedding so it won’t be long until the auction house starts receiving some high offers. See you in December in front of all the exquisite garments-Going once, going twice. Sold.
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