‘The Sale of the 21st Century’: Inside the Dior Masterpieces Auction

On Thursday, one of Dior couture’s most robust collections went under the gavel in a three-hour-long auction at Le Bristol Hotel in Paris. “Dior Masterpieces: The Mouna Ayoub Haute Couture Collection” put some 95 lots up for sale, belonging to the long-time couture client.

“It will probably be the sale of the 21st century,” said Salomé Pirson, co-founder of Maurice Auction, the auction house behind the sale, together with Kerry Taylor Auctions. The sale totaled over €6.19 million, breaking the world record for a haute couture sale, as well as a world record for Gianfranco Ferré, John Galliano, and Raf Simons pieces. “Unfortunately, we didn’t break a record for a Marc Bohan piece because the previous piece that was put up for auction was part of the Elizabeth Taylor collection, so there was the celebrity factor,” Pirson said. What about Maria Grazia Chiuri’s pieces? “There was only one dress by Maria Grazia in the auction because they are more recent, so I still fit into it,” Ayoub quipped.

The Franco-Lebanese businesswoman and Dior collector didn’t sell off everything. “I kept a lot of Maria Grazia pieces and John Galliano from the last few years,” she said. On Thursday, she was wearing a T-shirt designed by Chiuri, an homage to Galliano’s original Fall/Winter 2000 newspaper print. (This week, she bought a black couture dress with embroideries from Jonathan Anderson’s debut couture show at Dior.)

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime sale,” said Marie-Laurence Tixier, the energetic auctioneer who co-founded Maurice Auction with Pirson and was on the auctioneer podium throughout the sale.

Galliano’s painted silk evening gown from the “Clochards” or “Homeless” collection for the Spring/Summer 2000 collection went for €510,000, minus fees. Another highlight was the black taffeta evening gown from the same collection, which went for €420,000, also minus fees. “Both are iconic,” Ayoub said. “The Clochards collection created a big uproar. Everybody hated it. I bought the whole collection; I just loved it. This black gown with an alcohol bottle hanging is the piece that everybody is talking about in Paris. I wore it at Elton John’s 70th birthday party and the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival. It’s the only dress I ever wore twice,” Ayoub said.