The fashion auction of the year

It has already been a landmark year for fashion auctions, as collections of André Leon Talley and Grayson Perry’s dresses have gone under the hammer. But the most important one yet happens next week. The Mr Steven Philip Collection: Part 1, held at Bermondsey’s Kerry Taylor Auctions on 20 June 2023, is being heralded as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire pieces from one of the most extensive collections of Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano in the world. (The second part of the sale is scheduled to be held in December.)

Philip, a doyen of archival fashion who is best-known as the co-founder of the legendary west-London vintage boutique Rellik, has collected entire ensembles, obsessively piecing looks together down to the minutiae, some of which have taken decades to complete. 

“It was like a jigsaw and I wanted every piece of each outfit, I needed it all,” says Philip from the Brighton-based studio that he opened in 2018 after leaving London, his original Dundee accent still strong. He once flew to the States with an envelope of cash in a bid to convince a reluctant collector to sell him a Galliano shirt. “People love to ask me how much things like that cost: I always say 10 years of my life!”

John Galliano printed Vultures kimono from The Ludic Game collection, AW85/86, estimated at £25,000-£35,000…

… and the kimono shown as part of the collection in 1985

“There has never been a better opportunity to acquire cutting-edge fashion of this era,” adds Kerry Taylor, founder of the eponymous auction house. “I’m sure in years to come we will look back and marvel at the richness, diversity and excellence.”

These two designers were part of that movement in the ’80s when nothing was mass produced

Philip started piecing together his collection about 30 years ago. “We were going into the ’90s: minimalism, Calvin Klein, grey,” he recalls. “I thought to myself, where’s the colour? I’d just moved into a studio in Notting Hill and got a pile of Westwood at Kensington Market, and I just thought, what if I got more? That’s how it started.” The clothes have only become more important with age, he says. He considers Westwood and Galliano to be two of the best designers Britain has produced: “They were part of that movement in the 80s […] where there were spaces where new graduates could sell their collections, everything was limited, there would be a run of five or 10 at most of each piece, nothing was mass-produced… I always knew there was something in it.” 

John Galliano waistcoat from his 1984 degree show collection, Incroyables, auctioned with its sketches (see below), estimate £3,000-£5,000

John Galliano Fallen Angels collection, SS86

His sources were varied. “A girl who’d bought pieces in the ’80s had grown up and wasn’t rocking her horseshoe platforms or Mini-Crini anymore; another guy was married with two kids and was never going to wear that Savage suit, but he kept it because it cost them months’ wages . . . People would always come up to me at the stalls and say ‘Oh, that guy over there he’s got some Westwood.’ It was a lot of right place, right time.” 

The auction features more than 200 lots, including more than a dozen “total looks”, two of which come from an ’83 Buffalo collection, and an AW81/82 Pirate ensemble – the latter estimated to fetch £10,000 when it goes under the hammer. Philip’s personal highlights include an ensemble from Westwood’s Witches collection (£4,000-£6,000) and an oversized wool jacket from Galliano’s SS86 Fallen Angels collection (£2,000-£3,000), which he describes as “beyond”. Other key lots are a waistcoat from Galliano’s Incroyables graduate collection (£3,000-£5,000), a 1985 printed kimono from The Ludic Game collection (£25,000-£35,000), and an AW92/93 Vivienne Westwood dog-print corset (£2,500-£3,500). 

“I’m excited about selling all these pieces,” says Philip. “I wasn’t at first because it’s very hard to part with things.” His decision to sell is a relatively sudden one, coming in the wake of Vivienne Westwood’s death at the end of 2022. “I’d always thought about doing something like this before, but [her death] was a poignant moment.”

A complete Westwood/McLaren Pirate ensemble, AW81/2, estimated at £8,000-£9,000

Vivienne Westwood’s Pirates collection, ready-to-wear AW81, shown in London, April 1981

An imminent move to a new studio space has also inspired a new “jigsaw” for Philip. “I want to look at new graduates, new people, and try to help them with some things.” But he’s not going to give up archive fashion completely. “I’ll still keep 200 of the best pieces in my archive.” 

kerrytaylorauctions.com