Vintage Norman Norell for I. Magnin goes to Auction
A few weeks ago, I hinted at the fact that I came across a beautiful Norman Norell for I. Magnin coat. After doing a ton of research and talking to various auction houses, I finally decided that this baby needs to be handled by the big guns.
While the first image is from antiquedress.com, my coat was exactly the same. Right down to the name of the model who wore it sewn into the coat. We tried to figure out why Mr. Norell would make two coats for Denise, but just couldn’t come up with a reason.
If it hadn’t been for the super sleuthy and highly educated in vintage couture folks at the Vintage Fashion Guild and Debra at Antique Dress, I never would’ve found out so much about this amazing coat.
I shipped her off to the lovely Abigail Rutherford, Director of Vintage Couture, at Leslie Hindman Auctions in Chicago.
I’m really excited about the outcome of the auction on September 27. Mostly, I just want it to go to a good loving home, since none of the museums or hyper collectors would be interested in the coat due to the missing belt. People are cruel. If you had a gimpy child would you love it less?
Apparently, Chicagoans don’t have a distaste for mink or any other kind of furry, luxury pelt, like in California, so at least it will be worn.
3 comments
Vintage Vogues Go to Auction
As a fashion historian, nothing beats the glossy archives of vintage fashion magazines. In fact, when I was researching the brown velvet and white mink I. Magning Norman Norell coat I scored, I was able to pinpoint the year the…
Denise was Mr. Norell’s house model. I believe he also had a model named Pat.
Thank you TresChic! I think I discovered this as I was doing research after I acquired the coat. I was so excited to find out his model, and his preferred as I have heard, wore this coat. What a neat find!
Leave a Comment