Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel haute couture is going up for auction.
Real estate entrepreneur Mouna Ayoub is selling her collection of 252 items created by the late designer as a gesture for the "young generation" who didn't get to know him before his death aged 85 in 2019.
She told Women's Wear Daily: "For two reasons really: Number one, they don’t fit me anymore.
“Number two, I really want to give the young generation that didn’t know Karl and didn’t have the chance to own any haute couture pieces by Karl to own them and wear them and love them like I did — especially since most of them have never been worn.”
Maurice Auction will put the items up for sale on Monday (20.11.23) at the Pavillon Gabriel in Paris, and one evening coat - which was designed to resemble the Coromandel screens beloved by founder Gabrielle Chanel - is expected to go for between 150,000 and 200,000 euros.
Ayoub admitted she only wore the coat once when she went to the opera at Milan's La Scala, while the same can be said for a 1996 gold lace dress, which she donned at the Bal de la Rose gala in Monte Carlo with Lagerfeld by her side.
Once she has sold the 252 Chanel pieces, she will still own around 2,500 haute couture items, while she has orders in place for Fendi, Dior, Schiaparelli and Chanel.
She added: "I’m very particular and a little crazy in that and nobody understands it.
“If I was given the possibility to buy a piece of jewelry for 200,000 euros and a dress for the same price, I always go for the dress.
"Because I like to encourage the high fashion industry. I’m not very much for fast fashion. I’m actually opposed to it.”
