Rare clothing and ephemera, collected by McQueen’s head of studio and friend Ruti Danan, goes up for auction in Boston later this month
Announced today, an upcoming auction will see the rare early work of seminal British designer Alexander McQueen go up for sale. Taking place on February 22 at Boston-based auction house RR Auctions, the 74-lot collection – carefully conserved by the late Lee McQueen’s friend and head of studio, Ruti Danan, who has previously lent pieces for AnOther Magazine – includes items from seminal collections like Dante, Highland Rape and The Hunger, many of which are one-off pieces hand-sewn by the designer himself.
Predominantly taken from the years 1994 to 1996, there are numerous high-profile pieces to delight fashion collectors: a tartan, open-front jacket from Highland Rape (Autumn/Winter 1995), a slashed Chinese silk suit from The Hunger (Spring/Summer 1996), an original toile of a military matador jacket which would be recreated in Dante (Autumn/Winter 1996), and several other pieces. Together, they form a testament not simply to McQueen’s boundless imagination, but his skill in construction – an ability to splice and warp familiar items of clothing into strange and beautiful new forms.
The auction will also include a photo album, belonging to Danan, capturing her time spent at the McQueen studio during the production of his early collections. The rare photographs have not been seen in their entirety previously, with selected images appearing in Gods and Kings, The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano by Dana Thomas, and Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore at London’s Somerset House. Other items going up for sale as part of the landmark auction include show invitations, collection notes and clothing patterns.
The Alexander McQueen Archive of Ruti Danan is open for bids at RR Auctions’ website.
