On October30th, Christie’s sold off some of the finest fashion fetishes in history at their Resurrection: Avant Garde Fashion auction in Kensington. The highest bid went to this extraordinary Paco Rabanne Aluminum Tunic Dress at 25 grand. Most of the avant gardists represented were old garde: Pierre Cardin, Gaultier, Alaia, Cristobal Balenciaga, Norma Kamali, et al., with nary a word from the 21st century. Okay, there was one, a World’s End mini-crini wired skirt, a black hoop mini with yellow stars, but who cares when there’s this amazingly red circular vinyl cape. Viva la vinyl, indeed. Here we have a truly electrifying objet. Not just some dress the man made before he sold his name to all those luggage companies, but a Pierre Cardin masterpiece circa 1965. Holy space age deliciousness. And for the real tried and true fetishists, there’s nothing less than a gilt leather hood made by Sex for Malcolm McLaren of the New York Dolls. You might recognize its alter ego from the famous ‘Cambridge Rapist’ print. Other delicious take-home delights included an amazing black gauze shroud in two pieces by Rei Kawakubo (which fetched a mere 10k), a Mr.
