October 18th - the Chanel Collections

458 Chanel trouser suit


The October 18th Designer Fashion Auction contains two impressive private collections of Chanel clothing.

The collections are from elegant women who only ever wore the best: and the best is usually Chanel. Both women have now moved away from London, and neither feel their Chanel clothes will really fit into rural life.

The first woman has twenty Chanel pieces in the sale, having sold eight pieces in my July auction already. Knowing that she couldn’t take her large wardrobe with her when she moved, she listed all of these pieces in her local consignment store. Whilst the store managed to sell a few pieces, they also charged a massive 50% commission, meaning the lady was getting very little for her Chanel items. Luckily for her (and me!) she discovered Chiswick and quickly pulled everything out of the store and sent me twelve pieces to trial. She was so delighted with the sale prices achieved she sent the remainder of the collection.

It is no surprise her wardrobe contains so many beautiful pieces, as her mother was a seamstress, meeting the great Coco Chanel herself in Paris. She taught her daughter the importance of wearing well designed, beautifully made clothing and that it doesn’t matter how many items of clothing you have, as long as they are all of the highest quality.

The second lady has fifteen Chanel pieces in the sale. As the wife of a diplomat, it was important that she was always well turned out. She is mostly selling classic skirt suits and blazes and most of these beautiful pieces date from the 1990s and have only been worn a handful of times, so are in pristine condition.