SOCIAL STUDIES: Vintage designs by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel and Madame Vionnet will hit the auction block at Bonhams Paris later this month in a sale titled “1910-2010, 100 Years of Haute Couture.”
The live sale, which takes place on Oct. 21, will chart the evolution of haute couture, from the pioneering creations of the 1920s to modern fashion. Couture designs by Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, Cristóbal Balenciaga and Thierry Mugler will also feature.
The sale will look at the arc of haute couture, how it transformed the modern silhouette and laid the foundations for 20th-century style.
Hubert Felbacq, director of the fashion and accessories department at Bonhams in Paris, said each designer in the sale “approached the body and silhouette in different ways, from Vionnet’s revolutionary mastery of cut, and Chanel’s transformation of the modern wardrobe, to Dior’s celebrated postwar elegance and Mugler’s futuristic vision.”
He added: “These works reveal how couture responds to cultural shifts, shaping our understanding of fashion. It is this dialogue between designers and eras that makes the collection particularly compelling.”
The Vionnet pink satin evening dress from 1938.
The Chanel designs, from the 1920s and 1930s, are the stars of the show and include an evening gown in Nile green tulle with silver sequins from the 1928 haute couture collection. It carries an estimate of 6,000 euros to 8,000 euros.
There is also a short evening dress from the 1925 haute couture collection which is embroidered with jet-style beads. The estimate ranges from 5,000 euros to 7,000 euros.
The Madeleine Vionnet designs are from the 1920s, a decade in which the couturier transformed the female silhouette.
Known for her mastery of the bias cut, Vionnet created clothing that mirrored the natural movement of the body, while her innovative approach to cut and construction marked a move away from the structured Edwardian fashions of the prewar period.
Looks include a 1924 evening dress in almond-green moiré fabric with a silver ribbon. Designed with a straight neckline, thin straps, and a large bow at the back, it comes with an estimate of 4,000 euros to 6,000 euros.
A pink satin evening dress from 1938, made entirely on the bias with straps that cross at the front and back, has an estimate of 2,000 euros to 3,000 euros.
