NEW YORK, 13 October 2017 – Sotheby’s is pleased to announce Couture Fashion Jewellery – The Personal Archive of Shaun Leane as a highlight of our inaugural A Life of Luxury* auction series this December in New York. Created by London-based designer Shaun Leane over the course of more than 20 years, the Evening Sale will feature over 45 bespoke pieces he produced for beacons of the fashion industry, including legendary houses Alexander McQueen and Givenchy, as well as style icons the Honourable Daphne Guinness, Isabella Blow, Kate Moss and Sarah Jessica Parker. From the immaculate Contra Mundum Evening Glove, a special commission for Ms. Guinness that was inspired by her fascination with armor, to the iconic Crown of Thorns, from McQueen’s Autumn/Winter 1996 ‘Dante’ collection that appeared in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria & Albert Museum’s blockbuster retrospective in 2011 and 2015, respectively, the hauntingly beautiful selection on offer this winter encapsulates the exceptional dynamism and remarkable diversity of Leane’s creative vision.

The entrancing collection will be on public view in Sotheby’s New York galleries beginning 30 November. Offering both jewelry collectors and enthusiasts a unique chance to acquire covetable treasures of fashion history, the sale offers works ranging from $2,000 to $400,000.

Shaun Leane, Creative Director of the House of Shaun Leane commented: “I’m thrilled to be partnering with Sotheby’s and Kerry Taylor on this truly special sale. I believe that the collection represents a level of creative freedom that has no parallel today and a time when jewellery, performance art and fashion fused as one – it has prompted questions in my own mind as to the important role the collection still has to play in conversations surrounding the relationship between these vital creative industries. I see the auction as answering the questions these objects put forward when I began creating them: Is it art? Is it fashion? Is it jewellery? Its destiny now is to do the job it was designed to do; to inspire and provoke. It is an honour to present these designs to the public, and it is my hope that the endless inspiration and unadulterated joy that these pieces have brought to me and so many others over the years, will now be shared with collectors, museums & institutions from around the world.”

Kerry Taylor, fashion expert and auctioneer who is collaborating with Sotheby’s on the sale, said: “This is an historic collection – many of the pieces offered for sale have been previously only glimpsed behind the glass of major museums. Shaun Leane’s beautifully crafted fashion jewellery and body sculptures are not only iconic in their own right, but have contributed to some of the most memorable ‘fashion moments’ of all time on the McQueen catwalk. From truly avant-garde finale pieces to numerous desirable examples for those wishing to purchase jewels to wear, the sale offers works for institutional collections, Contemporary art collectors and fashion enthusiasts alike. Provenance is key and it is rare to be offered pieces of this significance directly from the creator; the last time many of them were worn was on the catwalk by models including Kate Moss, Erin O’Connor and Stella Tennant. Those lucky enough to acquire pieces in this auction will not only purchase a unique work of art – but a little bit of fashion history too.”

SHAUN LEANE
“Shaun has been a close friend and companion for many years. He captures the feeling of my work and the aesthetic of the time we live in…full of structure and finesse, crafted to perfection.” – Lee Alexander McQueen

Few designers have achieved such simultaneous success with both their namesake brand and their prominent collaborations as Shaun Leane. Born and raised in Finsbury Park, London, Leane began studying jewellery at the tender age of 15. A year later, he began a seven-year apprenticeship in the traditional craft of goldsmithing with English Traditional Jewellery in Hatton Garden – a renowned workshop located in London’s jewelry quarter that produced high end pieces for many of Bond Street’s most prestigious jewelry brands and created unique pieces for royal families across the world. Upon finishing his apprenticeship, Leane continued to work for the brand over the next five years, crafting lustrous fine jewels ranging from solitaires to tiaras.

Immersed in the contagious creative energy of the London arts scene in the early 1990s, Leane first met Lee Alexander McQueen, then a student at the prestigious Central Saint Martin’s College, in 1992, through a fortuitous set of circumstances with a group of tastemakers invested in the burgeoning city’s growth. Upon graduating the following year, McQueen visited Leane at his workplace and took a keen interest in the young designer’s craftsmanship and unwavering attention to detail.

It was under McQueen’s influence that Leane became exposed to a new outlook for Jewellery design, where the runway was viewed as a dreamscape in which he could question the very nature of a piece. He experimented with materials that heretofore were absent from his creative vocabulary, such as silver, brass, and aluminium. The two designers collaborated on up to eight collections per year over the course of their 17-year partnership, which lasted until McQueen’s tragic suicide in February 2010. In honor of their unique creative brilliance and friendship, Leane gave an address at the designer’s memorial service in September 2010.