Fans of the fashions featured in the historic Ebony Fashion Fair Show will have one last opportunity to own some of their favorite pieces from the collection as it will soon be placed on the auction block.
The legendary institution will hold the third and final installment of its three-part auction series via Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in mid-June.
Ebony promises the sale will include over 500 lots of garments considered to be ” the best of the best” that were initially not up for sale in the first two auctions, but will debut at the upcoming auction.
According to Johnson Publications chairman Linda Johnson Rice, the Fashion Fair was created for women all over to “experience fashion,” so it only makes sense to allow the public to own a piece of the collection.
“My mother created the Ebony Fashion Fair Show tour because she wanted every women to experience fashion. This auction takes that access to the next level,” says Johnson-Rice, daughter of Eunice and John Johnson, the founder of the company that publishes Ebony and Jet and owns Fashion Fair Cosmetics. “The best of the best from the Ebony Fashion Fair Show collection is featured in this auction. When a woman wears one of these beautifully constructed garments to a gala, it becomes a part of living history. We’ve had these pieces stored away for decades, why not let others have an opportunity to have a piece of history — to own it, wear it and enjoy it?”
Among the prized garments to be featured in the collection are a Yves Saint Laurent black sequined gown from the Fall/Winter 1990 collection and a Yves Saint Laurent yellow faille Domino coat ensemble from the Fall/Winter 1983 collection. The looks were included in the first complete retrospective of the Yves Saint Laurent oeuvre at the Petit Palais in Paris in 2010.
Other designers featured in the auction include garments from the Houses of Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro, Halston, Issey Miyake, Jean-Louis Scherrer, Nina Ricci, Paco Rabanne, Patrick Kelly, Pierre Cardin, Stephen Burrows, Thierry Mugler, Valentino and Vivienne Westwood.
A portion of the proceeds from the auction will go to Johnson College Prep, a public, charter high school named after John and Eunice Johnson that is located in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.
The Ebony Fashion Fair Show auction is set to take place on Wednesday, June 10 at noon CST. For more information, please visit www.ebony.com.
