A day after the record-breaking Yves Saint Laurent art auction in Paris, hundreds of vintage YSL designs and accessories went under the hammer at a crowded sale Thursday.
Some 950 items ranging from bags and jewellery at 80 euros (104 dollars) to rare couture pieces at 6,000 euros (7,800 dollars) go on the block over two days until Friday at a sale overflowing with potential buyers.
Compared with the massive 373.5-million-euro bonanza of stunning art and design works collected by Saint Laurent and his companion Pierre Berge, the vintage fashion sale is expected to bring in a mere 225,000 euros.
But many first day items sold far higher than their estimates.
A couple of graphic posters designed by Saint Laurent went for 2,500 euros (3,250 dollars), 40 times their estimated value. The buyer said she bought the colourful 1986 prints at that price as her daughter was born that year.
An elegantly beaded cream couture evening dress went to a phone bidder for 6,500 euros while a little black YSL number racked up 500 euros.
Auctioneers said this week s YSL art auction — the most successful private sale of its kind to date — had helped attract buyers to the vintage sale.
We had a wider variety of buyers than usual, said expert Dominique Chombert. The art sale is helping put people into a buying state of mind despite the crisis .
Said one well-heeled woman: I want clothing, jewels …I love everything Yves Saint Laurent. -AFP
