Running until 4 December, The Susan & Cliff Freeman Collection auction features kitschy vintage handbags, accessories and perfume from the 1920s to 1980s. Reminded of the recent playful runways of designers – think Balenciaga, Comme des Garçons, Gucci – we’re raising our bidding paddles.
When the power couple founded Cliff Freeman & Partners – one of the most successful New York advertising agencies during the 1980s and 90s – Susan and Cliff Freeman were celebrated for their creativity and passion for design. Famous for their eccentric taste, the Freemans extensively collected representations of mid-20th century popular culture that embodied the glamour of roaring twenties and fabulous fifties which feature throughout the auction.
Collection highlights include a number of handbags by 1940s surrealist designer Anne-Marie, designed to look like telephones, castles, champagne bottles and more. It was not uncommon for VIP guests of the Le Meurice hotel in Paris, which was housed above Anne Marie’s boutique, to receive one of her novelty champagne handbags instead of an actual bottle of champagne. Anne Marie was at the epicentre of the 1940s ‘novelty bag’ trend, and she set the mood for handbag designers today like Moschino and Jacquemus.
Alongside the handbags, the collection also features loud Schiaparelli glasses, necklaces by Isadora Paris and a range of perfumes, which include ‘Le Roy Soleil’, designed by Salvador Dali for Schiaparelli, the bottle is modelled to look like a golden clamshell case, which when you open reveals an engraved sun reflecting off an ocean, a rare Christian Dior Poison Esprit Parfum Cuff Bracelet, DeMarcy’s novelty orange perfume set, the 1921 Bryenne gold plated perfume bottle shaped like a Buddha and even a perfume atomizer shaped like a vintage telephone. §
