The Debbie Reynolds Auctions

Recently, the first of three auctions featuring the collection of Debbie Reynolds took place.  Reynolds had amassed the largest collection ever of Hollywood costumes and props, much from it's Silent Era and Golden Age.  Her intent was to provide everyone with an opportunity to snag a piece of memorabilia from their favorite films.  Too bad for us poor folk, the majority proved to be out of reach, bringing in prices no one could have realized.

Reynolds recalls, "It was inspired by shock."  She couldn't believe MGM was just going to sell off it's costumes and props.  In the Auction catalog intro she wrote, "My passion for collecting began in earnest when the studios broke up their inventories.  In 1970 MGM announced it was going to auction off everything except their real estate.  I was still under contract at MGM and knew this inventory well. These were the clothes that the studio wouldn’t even lend us to wear to events or parties...After the auction, preserving as many of these costumes as possible became my obsession."

She formed the non-profit Hollywood Motion Picture Museum in 1972 and her collection grew with subsequent 20th Century Fox and Paramount studio sales.  Fortunately, she was good friends with the President of Fox and was able to purchase many items prior to the auction including twelve gowns worn by Marilyn Monroe.  One was the famous subway dress from The Seven Year Itch which brought in $4.6 million dollars (Reynolds paid $200).  

            

She continued to buy through the years and one of her most recent purchases was Audrey Hepburn's My Fair Lady race day gown for $100,000 (sold for $3.7 million - talk about an investment!).  Other pieces came the good old-fashioned way; begging.  Harpo Marx gave her his top hat  ($45,000) and when a costume worn in Cleopatra by Richard Burton came up for sale, Reynolds actually called Elizabeth Taylor for the money.  She explained she already had Taylor's Cleopatra costume and wanted to reunite them.  "I really need it because I have you," Reynolds told her, "So she sent me the money for the costume."  Incidentally, Richard Burton's tunic cape sold for $85,000 and Taylor's headdress brought in $100,000.

On another humorous note, she desperately tried to get the Princess Leia costume worn by her daughter, Carrie Fisher, in Star Wars.  Reynolds said, "I asked George Lucas, but he has it in storage and he is not going to give up his Princess Leia costume, even to Princess Leia."

 

In 1993, she opened the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Hotel & Casino Resort in Las Vegas which included her Museum.  A financial failure, it filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and was auctioned off to the World Wrestling Federation for only $10 million, less than what was owed to creditors.  Reynolds placed her collection into storage where it's been until now.

An opportunity arose when she found 20,000 square feet in a development complex in central Hollywood.  In 2001, the city gave her $50,000 for the Museum.  Troubled financially, in 2004 a new location was chosen in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near Dollywood.  Much of the construction was completed when the project's real estate developers claimed bankruptcy leaving Reynolds holding the bag.  The Museum filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2009 forcing Reynolds to liquidate. 

 

And so we come to June 18, 2011.  What a night for Reynolds!  Auction estimates were exceeded by leaps and bounds.  The Arabian test pair of the Ruby Slippers from the The Wizard of Oz sold for $510,000 and Judy Garland's Dorothy test dress sold for $910,000.  Combined, their estimates were only $230,000.  Marilyn Monroe's red sequined dress and feather headdress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes fetched $1.2 million and her costumes from There's No Business Like Show Business and River of No Return together reached $1,010,000.  

                             

Other notable sales included $110,000 for Charlie Chaplin's bowler hat, $550,000 for Julie Andrew's Sound Of Music jumper dress, $140,000 for her guitar and $320,000 for Charlton Heston's tunic and cape from Ben-Hur.  Grace Kelly's chiffon evening gown from The Swan earned $110,000 and her coral knit dress from To Catch a Thief soared to $450,000.  Other heavy hitters were Taylor, Ingrid Bergman and Barbra Streisand, whose gold velvet gown from Hello Dolly fetched $100,000.  By the way, the prices quoted here don't include a buyer's premium of 24% plus state taxes - ouch!

              

Reynolds herself was a real trooper at the auction.  I can't imagine how she felt watching treasure after treasure going under the gavel, knowing her dream was at it's end.  She joked at the opening, "I've been collecting for 45 years but I'm only 40".  When bidding for Greta Garbo’s Camille couch slowed to $9,000, Reynolds yelled out “I paid ten!” and it went for $11,000.  She even went up to the buyer of Dorothy's dress and shoes and kissed him on the cheek!  

Ultimately, the auction earned $22.8 million dollars.  Profiles in History, the auction house, will sell off the collection in stages with the next auction slated for December 6.  It will feature more costumes worn by Marilyn Monroe as well as props from Gone With The Wind.  

Personally, I couldn't be happier for her.  Although she didn't succeed with her Museum, she did preserve these magnificent costumes.  God only knows what would have happened to them otherwise.  Kudos and thanks Debbie!!  What saddens me however is the fact that some of the most recognizable costumes in Hollywood history went to Saudi Arabia and Japan.  Even the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences declined to send a representative, unbelievable especially with all the money in Tinsel Town.  I guess nothing changes huh Debbie?

In closing, her own words from the catalog:

I cherish every piece I’ve collected. I couldn’t bear to see them be lost or forgotten. Each  costume embodies the aura of the star who wore it onscreen.  Who can think of The Wizard of Oz without seeing Dorothy’s ruby slippers? Or The Seven Year Itch without Marilyn Monroe’s subway dress? I can’t...All these items are as famous as the stars that wore them. There is magic in every thread, button and bow. Many of these wonderful articles capture that special moment in a film where our hearts were deeply touched. For me, the memory of this moment lives forever in each of these pieces. I always dreamed of building a museum...For the past fifty years, I have collected, preserved and loved all these treasures. I’ve had the privilege to be their champion and caretaker. Sadly, my dream didn’t come true. As I turn these precious items over to the auction, my wish is that they will find homes where they will be revered and preserved along with their history. Now everyone has the opportunity to own them. I hope you will love them as I do.

Falls Avenue Vintage Fashion

Diana Vreeland: A 20th Century Original

Diana Vreeland, fashion editor extraordinaire and icon who encouraged us to reinvent ourselves, dream beyond our realities and want more.  As fashion and society were moving beyond the old world upper crust during the 1930s, she appealed to both the elite and the average American women.  Once she stepped on the scene, neither the world of fashion nor it's publications would ever be the same.

Born in Paris, 1903, Diana's parents were Emily Key Hoffman and British born Frederick Dalziel.  Her socialite mother was a descendant of George Washington's brother, cousin of Francis Scott Key and distant cousin of Pauline de Rothschild.  They moved to New York at the start of WWI and became known in the best social circles.  Both her mother and sister were beauties; unfortunately, Diana was not.  According to Vreeland, her mother told her she was "impossible because she was extremely ugly and jealous of her sister".  Never one to dwell, she simply commented, "Parents, you know, can be terrible."  In truth, she preferred subdued elegance to what she considered to be the outlandish style of her mother.

 

In 1924, she married Reed Vreeland, not wealthy but a socially accepted banker.  They moved to Albany and raised two sons until 1929 when they moved to London.  She operated a lingerie shop near Berkeley Square and bought most of her clothes in Paris where she befriended the top couturiers.  The Vreelands were socially active and their friends included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Singer sewing heiress, Daisy Fellowes.

In 1937, they moved back to NY where she was offered the position of Fashion Editor at Harper's Bazaar magazine.  Editor Carmel Snow had a keen eye and was impressed by Vreeland's style.  Financially, they needed the money; Reed didn't earn enough to maintain their lifestyles or her Parisian and his Bond Street wardrobes.  This was also despite the fact that she almost never paid for her couture clothes.  To designers, Vreeland had that "jolie/laide" or beautiful/ugly image; not pretty but chic, visible and very marketable. 

                             

Over the next 25 years at Harper's, Vreeland would forever change the position of fashion editor.  Editors only observed and reported trends whereas she created and popularized styles, people and ideas.  Her observations were witty, humorous and often just way out there.  Famous quips included, “Never fear being vulgar, just boring.” or “People who eat white bread have no dreams.”  Her sensational Why Don't You? column asked readers, "Why don't you tie black tulle bows on your wrists?...Have a yellow satin bed entirely quilted in butterflies?".  Vreeland was surprised the one that received the most feedback was "Why don't you wash your blond child's hair in dead champagne, as they do in France?"  Embracing youth, in 1946 she hailed "the bikini [is] the most important thing since the atom bomb".

Vreeland was passed over for promotion at Harper's Bazaar when Snow retired in 1957.  She resigned in 1962 and signed on with Vogue as Editor-In-Chief.  It was a great decade for Vreeland who enjoyed the unique style and individuality of the 1960s.  However, not only were her exotic on-location shoots costly, management felt she was out of touch with the new generation and ultimately fired her in 1971.

Before Vreeland, editors never controlled photography and sets or decided clothing and models.  She was bored with old world society; she was looking for the here and now, for people with personality and talent that would motivate her readers.  She packed a punch with shocking ads like the two-page layout of a nude girl lying face down in the sand with a large black straw hat covering her backside.  The caption: “Spend the summer under a big black sailor.”  In touch with the life of the average American woman; when an assistant at Vogue suggested a layout on long skirts, Vreeland said, "Oh, no...modern women aren't going to go for that. They have to drive kids to school." 

Vreeland preferred to wear simple and classic lines with showy accessories like costume jewelry, hats and especially shoes.  Later in life, her trademark look became rouged cheeks and ear lobes, red lips and nails and  black lacquered hair in a snood.  Always fashionably thin, she wore low-heel sandals and loved the color black.  Her Park Avenue apartment was completely done in vivid reds, from the carpets to the walls and decor.  She wanted "a garden in hell" and claimed, "Red is the great clarifier - bright and revealing. I can't imagine becoming bored with red. It would be like becoming bored with the person you love."

 

Upon leaving Vogue in 1971, she became consultant to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NY and by 1984, she had successfully organized 12 exhibitions.  Vreeland was hired primarily for her ability to coax her society friends into donating fashions to the museum and soon was managing the entire project her way.  While the Museum wanted historical accuracy, Vreeland wanted a more contemporary look relevant to the public and mixed old and new together, as in pairing a dress with shoes that hadn't been designed during the same era.

Despite her success, Vreeland had never earned a large salary and always lived beyond her means.  In 1987 she needed to sell some of her costume jewelry and asked companion Kenneth Jay Lane what it was worth.  He estimated $30,000 to $40,000 to which she responded, "That much? My God!"  The sale drew a large crowd at Sotheby's and brought in $167,000.  When Lane called to tell her the good news, true to character, she snapped, "Is that all?" 

           
Her 1984 autobiography, D.V., is a fascinating read that humorously details the approach to fashion editing that influenced and delighted millions of readers.  She recognized talent and discovered celebs like Lauren Bacall in the 1940s and socialite model Edie Sedgwick in the 1960s.  She advised close friend Jackie Kennedy on style and introduced the First Lady to American designers like Oleg Cassini and Halston.  She invented much of the lingo still used in the fashion world today like the word "pizazz" and added to our vocabulary too.  When asked, “Mrs. Vreeland, is that fact or fiction?”, she replied, “It’s faction”. 

 

Edie Sedgewick

Lauren Bacall

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

 

A true original, Diana Vreeland is one of the most dynamic women I've had the pleasure of researching.  To end on a poignant note, when she died in 1989, the last entry in the register at her apartment read "Mrs. Onassis called."  Jackie followed just 5 years later marking the end of an era which, like Vreeland, will never be duplicated.




Falls Avenue Vintage Fashion