Caftans? Big caftans? Big chunky brooches? The André Leon Talley Collection at Christie's, 15 February 2023

Catalogue link

The Versace Mansion will finally have a chance to get its curtains back!

How many of us need an evening caftan for black-tie events?

Fascinating! Thanks for posting, OP.

It's like if Tina Turner was an offensive lineman.

[quote]The sale has just 68 lots

Why did Anna Wintour dump him? Does anyone know the story or at least a rumor?

On a related note, what was Diana Vreeland's relationship like with Wintour?

Are there any ones made of Spandex?

[quote]Caftans? Big caftans?

Tents that can sleep 8?

A SILVER METAL & SHEARLING ROBOT

A GOLD LEATHER LE FLÂNEUR BICYCLE

Andre was a big boned gal.

I enjoyed this Chanel number, yassssss!

What a painful irony... a sale of caftans DLers could fit, but can't afford.

I was planning to pick up one of the caftans to use over a rental house I want fumigated, but the damned things stink so bad they'll kill the termites without the spray.

But then the house would have to be torn down because of the smell. Cologne, ass, funk and Flaming Hot Cheetos.

And prideful rage.

Someone on the thread about Hilton Als said and I agree they remind me of each other. They are both pretentious and rather large black men but Hilton seems more intelligent than ALT did.

You can get the same look much cheaper.

Confuse all the other Leatherman by introducing your own hankie code!

Do the caftans have pockets for snack purses?

Is this to pay off debts?

A few of these just look like judge's robes. Or table covers with a hole cut in the middle.

I love looking through these auction catalogs. Sigfried and Roy’s was the best.

I heard the Mets and the Yankees are going to bid on these to use as tarps for rain delayed games.

[quote]Is this to pay off debts?

No, R20. He's dead. Proceeds go to his estate which, according to the catalogue description, will channel them to two churches, one in NYC, the other in North Carolina.

[quote]Proceeds from the live and online auctions will benefit the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York and Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina; both of which were close to Mr. Talley’s heart.

All told there are 448 lots, the choice group in the live auction linked above and a much larger group to be auctioned online, also by Christie's.

The NYT article explains the organization of the sale

I remember the red hefty bag puffer coat. I would say ICONIC but its all just SAD! Thank you for posting the auction anyway, OP. I've been waiting to see what was in his treasure trover. This can't be it. Though my shady cynical side expected he indeed ended up with garbage.

How does he not have a "real" warhol. Worth a couple hundred thousand. How does he not have an important piece of furniture, or two. A significant jewel.

The good stuff is still to come?

Oh my post at r26 is now clarified with more info at R25. Thanks

The online things have not been posted yet.

The 356 online lots have been posted [see link.]

There are photos (some good ones of their type), a Hunt Slonem painting of a rabbit, a tulip, Garrett Rittenberg portraits, and a cheerful crucifixion after El Greco by an evident favorite of ALT, Kim Cole Moore.  There are gay art-porny photos by Herb Ritts and Karl Lagerfeld photos and others.

There are caftans galore, and muumuus and leftovers from Omar the Tentmaker, and other incredibly large garments of one sort or another. There are sunglasses: Prada, Gucci, big and bold/gold, and other accessories, a pillbox hat larger than some micro-apartments, more hats, gloves, scarves, and shoes, many shoes, many open-toed sandals including in white pony skin and alligator.  There are sporting goods like the too-seldom used tennis racket.  And Louis Vuitton luggage enough to fill a modest house to the rafters, logo-emblazoned, of course.

There are bits of furniture and household furnishings: throne chairs, pedestals, folding screens, an 1882 Minton's majolica turquoise-ground jardiniere bought from a good collection for a truly rock-bottom estimate if you are in the market; and a quite nice 1820s American giltwood girandole mirror, some ebonized Regency style pieces that are not bad, two American Empire sofas 1820s-01830s catalogued as "probably 19th Century" (Christie's isn't exactly calling in the expertise of its furniture department for the furniture part of this sale), and an odd marriage of "Keith Harring for  Villeroy & Boch" dinner plates, and surprisingly few gee-gaws and what-nots, Mr. Talley was evidently a man of big interests, not small.

An interminable stretch of handbags, some assembled lots of books, and more photos fill out the sale.

Didn't he die several years ago? Or was that Billy Porter...

I do like majolica. And the Keith Harring for Villeroy & Boch would be chic and fun in a contemporary art fan's apartment.

Louis Vuitton always brings very good prices. These lots are priced low.

R32: Agreed about the estimates being low, but on everything really. On celebrity sales most good auction houses are the estimates are always purposely conservative, with no value added to the estimate for the celebrity factor. It gives novice bidder souvenir hunters the idea that they have a chance to bag a prize, and it makes for a lot of post auction copy, as in this L.A. Times report of the auction of Jackie Onassis' things in 1996:

[quote]...a mother-of-pearl-handled magnifying glass and letter opener, whose value was estimated at $200 to $300, sold for $24,150.

Normally Christie's or Sotheby's would tell you no if you wanted to dispose of a few Louis Vuitton bags worth maybe $1000-2000 or even $5000-6000, but in a celebrity auction they are assured that the price of everything will be much inflated and so they sell things estimated for as little as $200-300. Their relatively new online-only auctions are a way to ensure high profits by doing away with the heavy staffing needed for an in-house auction; I think the minimum value is only $100, but they will take things at that end only if it's part of a large collection worth their time or it fits into some themed auction.

I'm buying the Gold Bike...No way that Fat Gay caftan-wearing cow rode on the bike.

Hermes bike is chic

This would be fun.

Those tents reek of shame and regret.

The Vreeland 1979 photograph would be wonderful to have, and since I'm bougie, the Stephen Sprouse graffiti painted Louis Vuitton briefcases are pretty snazzy!

Agreed about the Diana Vreeland photo, R38. I think it's my to pick of the sale, the Minton's jardiniere a second.

I'm not big on celebrity provenance but I imagine the Vreeland photo hanging in a corridor and giving me a pause to everyone who walks by it the first time. It's a famous image, even if you know nothing about the subject, even if they've forgotten the details, most people have seen the image and the oddness of the subject. And her room, her "Garden in Hell" room framing that Death's skull is arresting. Explained, everyone knows the name on some level. Then the story of the room in which she's posed, the story of her maids blackening her shoe bottoms daily, her crazy "Why don't you...?" series of decorating tips, imagining a room in 200 shades of green, "Why don't you...have an elk-hide trunk for the back of your car? Hermès of Paris will make this."

Which is the perfect connection to ALT's own brand of grandiose pronouncements and their professional connection to Vogue.

For me it's the most ALT thing of the sale.

How depressing and actually revolting when gays leave their estates "to the church".

What a stunning lack of brains and imagination.

No one ever accused André of imagination.

Here is your TUTORIAL!

I am wondering if one of those caftan capes would look good on an in shape guy in a really nice suit. With a handsome face and a good tailor, that Chanel cape could look stunning? I adore ALT. He really has some beautiful things. There is the range and then price realized. 5000 is still a good purchase price for the Hermes bike but that is meant to be ridden around a country estate and certainly not in the city. The Vuitton got 6000.

proper ladies wear only the best