Fans of the late Dame Barbara Cartland flocked to an auction of the late author’s dresses on Tuesday, snapping up everything from exotic fur trimmed hats to diamante-encrusted evening gowns. The collection of 60 dresses, 30 hats and costume jewellery – most in the prolific novelist’s trademark pink– sold for £13,500 at the Sotheby’s event.
The items reflected the inimitable style of the “Queen of Romance”, famed for her penchant for frilly dresses in pink, a colour she once claimed “helps you to be clever”. In her will, she requested that her wardrobe, which she described as “museum pieces”, be auctioned after her death. “It was Dame Barbara’s wish that… her clothes should be sold so others would have the chance to share her taste in fashion,” reports a Sotheby’s spokewoman.
The catalogue of flamboyant frocks – which listed such creations as a Hardie Amies pink organza “frou-frou baby-doll” cocktail dress and a “paste-festooned evening gown” – attracted some of the romantic novelist’s most enthusiastic admirers to the sale.
“I came here to buy one dress and I’ve ended up with three,” said Ceri Jones, a female impersonator who spent upwards of £1,000 at the auction. Among Ceri’s purchases was one described in the rose-coloured Sotheby’s catalogue as “a dramatic chiffon and paste encrusted gown with ostrich trim cape”. He won’t be using the dresses in his stage act, however. “I’m putting them on display in a special Barbara Cartland room at home,” he explains.
A set of 11 Freddy Fox hats adorned with silk flowers, feathers and white fur was the best-selling item, going to an unnamed milliner for £1,320.
Dame Barbara passed away last year aged 98.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
