Charles A. Whitaker Auction Company

The Helen Larson Private Collection
Saturday, April 28 at 10 AM

Location: New Hope Eagle Fire Co., New Hope, PA 18938
Preview: Thursday, April 26 (by appointment), Friday, April 27 from 10 AM-6 PM and Saturday, April 28 from 8-10AM

This season The Charles A. Whitaker Auction Co. is extremely honored to have been selected to bring to market the Private Collection of Helen Larson. Many in the historic fashion world are familiar with Helen Larson and the massive collections she has put together both as a fashion historian and as a businesswoman through her creation of Western Costume in Los Angeles. It is her own private and personal collection we will offer this spring in New Hope, PA.

Helen Larson was a passionate collector of both fashion and history. She, with the assistance of her close friend Doris Langley Moore–founder of The Costume Museum, Bath, England–assembled a massive collection over a 50-year career beginning in the 1940’s. There are several lots offered that were illustrated in Moore’s The Woman in Fashion and The Child in Fashion. For the past several years The Helen Larson Private Collection has been housed at FIDM (Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising). Much of the research extracted by the staff at FIDM and others will be included with the upcoming lots offered for sale. The HLPC spans several centuries and offers collectors, historians, and institutions a unique opportunity to acquire historical, royal and haute couture with a secure chain of provenance. Many lots include copies of correspondence between Larson and Moore, copies of invoices and auction records. European Royalty represented in the collection includes Queens Victoria, Alexandra and Mary of England, Louise of Denmark, Marina of Greece and others. American figures of note range from presidential first ladies and Gilded Age industrialists, to Hollywood celebrities including Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, Lady Ellen Wilson, Gilded Age industrialists Mrs. Jay Gould (Duchess of Tallyrand), Consuelo Vanderbilt (Duchess of Marlborough), and Katharine Hepburn from The African Queen. The HLPC also houses some of the best of the best in haute couture with important examples from Worth, Poiret, Paquin, Pingat, Molyneux, Vionnet, Chanel and others. There are hundreds of accessories including hats, shoes, corsets plus good lace veils, shawls, trim, and garments.

 


GO TO OUR WEBSITE FOR INFORMATION:
www.whitakerauction.com


Charles A. Whitaker Auction Company
Additional information, catalogs and 100s of photos: whitakerauction.com.
Phone 215-817-4600

body-sm