Suzy Menkes goes to auction

Suzy Menkes with Yves Saint Laurent.

One of the legends of fashion journalism, Suzy Menkes is auctioning off some of the treasured clothes that she has collected throughout her career. Menkes, who writes for the International Herald Tribune as well as the New York Times, is a self-confessed “hopeless fashion editor” (because as a lover of all things bright, the little black dress “means nothing” to her). Even with her love of all things fashion, she cites the late Yves Saint Laurent as one of her favourite designers.

“I will love him forever for those trouser suits he produced,” said Menkes, who found being a working mother in the early Seventies “pretty tough”, because: “no-one had really done it before, you didn’t have any rules.”

Highlights from the auction left to right: A gown by Ossie Clark; skirt suit by Christian Lacroix and an evening dress by Emilio Pucci

Explaining the story behind her beloved Pucci palazzo pyjamas, she recalled meeting Emilio Pucci’s niece Idanna while at Cambridge and being invited to stay with her in Florence, where she met the “great man himself”, who was extravagantly dressed for a parade in the town.

“Instead of going to the parade we sneaked to the back of the house where the ‘samples’ were on sale,” confided Menkes. “As you’ll appreciate I was slimmer then and I slipped into a couple of samples and every last Lira that I had – literally every last penny, went on these clothes.”

Over 90 lots from Menkes’s wardrobe, including pieces by the now-defunct Christian Lacroix label, a selection of Chanel handbags and plenty by the aforementioned Yves Saint Laurent, are available to bid for via the Christie’s website for the next few days, with the auction ending at 5pm on July 22.

For more information go the Christie’s Auctions