Fashion and Art Share the Frame in Karen Elson and Liz Goldwyn's Auction with Paddle8
by Lynn Yaeger
Photo: Charlotte Wales
"I think it's the sort of thing Anna Sui would wear on the Orient Express," Karen Elson says dreamily, describing a one-of-a-kind frock that Sui has created from a vintage garment. The dress is part of Vintage Vanguard, a project that Elson, an iconic model and a singer, founded with her pal Liz Goldwyn, an author and filmmaker. The pair worked with well-known designers to rework vintage clothes, then auction off the gorgeous results through Paddle8 for the benefit of Dress for Success, a wonderful organization that promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing them with professional attire.
But the Vintage Vanguard creations aren't the only items on the block—the auction aims to present art, fashion, jewelry, and design in "a dialogue," and to that end Elson and Goldwyn have organized the offerings into vignettes with names like Capri Jet Set, which features **Gregory Parkinson'**s reworking of a tie-dyed dress chatting with Slim Aarons photographs; New York Pop, where a Rudi Gernreich design reworked by Narciso Rodriguez yuks it up with Andy Warhol's lithographs of Mick Jagger; and Gen X, with prints from Nan Goldin and Richard Prince sharing a pensive conversation with a reworked crepe dress by Olivier Theyskens, embellished with crystals and feathers. Each scenario is meant to illustrate Vintage Vanguard's larger aesthetic: As Goldwyn explains, "I don't just buy a dress because it's pretty—it has to be evocative of a mood, a character I want to take on."
Goldwyn admits she will have a hard time keeping herself from bidding on the coral and diamond Tony Duquette earrings in the sale, and she also has big eyes for the Gregory Parkinson column dress—"to wear with the Duquette!" Asked what she would buy for Elson, she doesn't hesitate—"That Sui dress."
Anna Sui, chantilly lace floral dress.
Estimate: $800–$1,200
Tony Duquette, pair of earrings, coral purchased in 1970, earrings designed in 1990. Coral, tsavorite, pearl, 18K gold.
Estimate $14,000–$18,000
Photo: Paddle8
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In This Story:Auctions, Karen Elson, Olivier Theyskens