April 11, 2019
Karl Lagerfeld sketches will be going up for sale later this month. Image courtesy of Palm Beach Modern Auctions
Late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld’s design process is being explored through an upcoming auction of his early sketches.
On April 18, Palm Beach Modern Auctions’ Urban Culture Auctions division will host a sale of 125 lots of sketches from the couturier’s time at Tiziani. A previous auction of Mr. Lagerfeld's sketches sold out, and the auction house has seen a surge of interest in these pieces since the designer's passing.
Drawing demand
Palm Beach Modern Auctions hosted a 2014 sale of Mr. Lagerfeld’s sketches. The consignor had inherited the archive, and was believed to have sold the entire collection.
"The gentleman in Palm Beach who inherited the archive consigned most of its contents to us for the 2014 sale, but even we did not know that he had retained some favorite sketches for his own personal collection,” said Rico Baca, co-owner of Urban Culture Auctions, in a statement. “Now he has decided to let a new generation become the caretakers of those irreplaceable artworks.
"There was so much publicity about our 2014 sale that, after Karl Lagerfeld's passing, our phone started ringing off the hook with calls from collectors, museums and fashion industry executives, asking if we had any more of his sketches available to purchase,” he said.
Sketches from the upcoming sale include Mr. Lagerfeld’s handwritten notes. Many of the hand-colored sketches also have fabric swatches attached.
Mr. Lagerfeld was known to throw out sketches, making the remaining archive rarer.
A 1960s sketchbook containing fashion drawings created by Karl Lagerfeld for House of Tiziani, Rome. Image credit: Urban Culture Auctions image
Estimates range from $1,000 to $1,500 for individual sketches to $2,000 to $4,000 for portfolios of between 22 and 44 sketches. Also included are designs made specially for Elizabeth Taylor, which are estimated at up to $3,000 each.
The auction will be held from 12 p.m. ET, with live bidding also taking place on LiveAuctioneers.com.
Mr. Lagerfeld, one of the world's greatest fashion designers who seemed immortal and invincible, passed away Feb. 19 of pancreatic cancer in Paris' American Hospital. He was 85.
Tributes have started pouring in for a man who transformed storied fashion houses such as Chanel, Fendi and Chloé, while not spraying similar pixie dust on his own eponymous label. He is survived by Choupette – arguably the world's most famous cat (see story).
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