The 1965 pop-art inspired mini dress was part of a small single-owner fashion collection that belonged to the late American model Peggy Moffiit. Fierce competition for the Pierre Cardin original saw the bidding end up at ten times its estimate, with the dress being knocked down to a museum at $192,500 (including buyer’s premium).
It’s thought that Peggy probably acquired the dress as payment for a modelling job she did for Cardin in Paris in 1965. The cyclamen pink silk of the dress was entirely covered in shocking pink sequins and black spots, with the upper edge and straps backed in pink chiffon.
Peggy’s husband, photographer Bill Claxton, often took photos of her wearing designer outfits, something that added to the allure of several pieces offered in the sale. “Claxton’s images of his wife wearing these incredible clothes added to the value of the works,” said auctioneer Kerry Taylor from Kerry Taylor Auctions (London, Paris and Jersey City). “Whenever a garment was illustrated by a photograph of Peggy wearing it the bidding escalated.” A case in point: the infamous monokini. It caused a scandal in 1964 when Claxton photographed Peggy wearing the swimsuit, by radical designer Rudi Gernreich: it exposed the wearer’s breasts as a political and feminist statement on women’s freedom. The monokini sold to another museum for a top estimate price of $20,500.
Peggy was both muse and model for Gernreich, owning more than 300 pieces of his avant-garde designs from the 1960s and ‘70s. She viewed modelling as a theatrical event that expressed the inner life of the designs and after Gernreich died in 1985, she became guardian of his legacy. She said, “Rudi absolutely changed the vocabulary of fashion… The world has picked at his bones for years and I want him to be acknowledged for what he did.”
It was estimated to sell for around $15,000… but ended up at $192,500. That’s a maxi price for a mini dress.
