Victorian ladies sporting jacket sold for £19,000 at Kerry Taylor.
The c.1895 jacket, with leg-o-mutton sleeves, exaggerated lapels and tiny waist, was hammered down at £19,000 at Kerry Taylor’s March 21 sale to a wealthy donor who regularly buys items with social historical importance to donate to the NGV.
The same patron also purchased and donated to the museum a hunger strike ‘Fed By Force’ medal bought at a Mellors & Kirk auction in Nottingham in 2019 (ATG No 2386) and a Chanel Coromandel evening coat and ski r t designed by Karl Lagerfeld which sold at Christie’s Paris in November last year (ATG No 2570).
The collector, who buys both male and female items, has a “strong imperative to redress the historical imbalance in female representation in public collections” (a mission shared by NGV) and has acquired artworks, fashion and decorative arts objects for the museum.
Proud and pleased
The jacket, offered with an estimate of £250-350, sold at £23,750 including the 25% buyer’s premium.
It was consigned to auction from the estate of the late vintage dealer and stylist Lucinda Alford. Alford, who died in 2022, was a former fashion editor of the Observer, London Fashion Week stylist and vintage dealer.
Her collection is being offered via Kerry Taylor as the Lucinda Portobello Collection through a number of sales.
Taylor, who is based in Bermondsey, south London, said: “Lucinda Alford, if she was looking down on the sale, would have been so proud and pleased. It was a tribute to her excellent taste and eye for strong design.”
