This December, Sotheby's partners with Creatives for Lebanon and Art for Beirut – two non-profit organizations created by the Lebanese diaspora in the wake of the tragic explosion in Beirut on August 4 – to raise funds for the people of Beirut through the medium of the arts. Composed of a hand-picked selection of donations from leading contemporary artists, stylists and jewelery designers, “To Beirut with Love” will be open to offers until December 15th. Following the sale, in partnership with IMPACT Lebanon and LIFE (Lebanese International Finance Executives), the proceeds will be shared among five charities, ensuring funds reach the areas that need them most. Chosen charities include Nusaned, Beit El Baraka and Baytna Baytak, whose focus is on housing for displaced families and rehabilitation of residential homes and local businesses, Al Fanar, a venture philanthropy organization that provides support for social entrepreneurs and small businesses, and finally House of Natale, which will help preserve and protect heritage buildings.
From Giambattista Valli to Ralph & Russo, from Azzedine Alaïa to Prada, the auction offers the opportunity to purchase archival pieces from the world's leading fashion houses. Alongside these will be dresses donated by Middle Eastern icons, including: a haute couture silk dress designed by Egyptian actress Sherihan to wear in her Fawazeer 'Arabian Nights' show in 1987, signed by the star for the auction (estimate £18.000-25.000), along with a unique sky-blue dress from the collection of beloved Lebanese singer Majida El Roumi (£8.000-10.000). To complete the perfect outfit, the auction also offers the possibility of creating a pair of bespoke Christian Louboutin shoes.
Leading the march is an ethereal long-sleeved Elie Saab custom beaded gown embroidered with guipure and sequins (estimate £20.000-30.000), with an open back and thigh-high slit – last worn by Academy Award-winning actor Emma Stone on the carpet red of the Oscars in 2015. The beloved Lebanese “king of couture”, Saab was the first Arab designer to be admitted to the fashion industry's governing body, Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Blending modern princess with Hollywood glamour, the one-of-a-kind dress for him was designed as part of his Beirut chasing dream collection in Spring-Summer 2015, embodying summer breeze, elegance and douceur de vivre of the city.
The relationship between music and fashion has led to some of the most dynamic and creative moments, as musicians influence fashion trends while an iconic outfit can put an artist on the map. In addition to Mick Jagger's jacket from his 2017 European tour, Lebanese designer Nicolas Jebran's matador-inspired costume for Madonna and a Pete Townshend autographed guitar, the auction will offer a slice of the Spice Girls
history. Geri Halliwell's sequined gown, worn in the music video for the definitive girl band's iconic debut single 'Wannabe', is also among the highlights (estimate £4.000-6.000). Two decades later, the star posted a throwback of her wearing the piece on Instagram, saying, "I still remember running around in my Mary Quant platforms and the sparkly leotard I bought at Notting Hill Market."
Leading the jewelery offering is a woven yellow gold My Dior bracelet (estimate £30.000-50.000), designed by Dior Joaillerie's visionary artistic director, Victoire de Castellane. The eye-catching bracelet is a riot of color adorned with diamonds and a veritable rainbow of gemstones, including sapphires, spinels, amethysts, aquamarines, tourmalines and more.
Passionate about incorporating features of Rome's imperial glory into its designs, Bulgari began mounting ancient coins into its jewelery as early as the 60s. This rose gold coin necklace from this Timeless Collection (estimate £3.000-5.000) encapsulates the allure of juxtaposing a 2.000 year old piece in a bold, contemporary setting.
Damien Hirst's gold Pill diamond skull bracelet (estimate £8.000-12.000), created in an edition of fifty in 2013, is an elegant wearable piece of art. The place of pharmaceuticals in today's society remains one of the most enduring and important themes in Hirst's work and this bracelet is inspired by the artist's medicine cabinet series. The addition of a miniature skull serves as homage to For the Love of God, Hirst's sculpture composed of an 8.601th-century human skull encrusted with XNUMX flawless diamonds.
In yet another embodiment of fashion colliding with art, supermodel Naomi
Campbell donated one of his favorite portraits, taken by photographers Rocco Lapasta and Charles DeCaro (estimate £3.000-5.000).
Other artists represented with the works for sale include filmmakers Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, who for the past fifteen years have focused on the images, representations and history of their home country of Lebanon. Wonder Beirut ranks among the pair's most notable photographic projects, inspired by tourist postcards of pre-Civil War Beirut attractions, and explores the blurring line between fact and fiction (estimate £4.000-6.000).
Also arriving from Lebanon are works by renowned photographer Fouad Elkoury – with a photograph from his nostalgic Suite Egyptienne series (estimate £9.000-11.000) as he traveled along the Nile – and by innovative painter Huguette Caland – with his fascinating work Serie Bribes de Corps (estimate £10.000-15.000).
The auction also features a piece by French designer Hervé Van der Straeten, whose dynamic furniture and lighting designs are instantly recognizable for their contrasting materials and bold variations of form combined with superlative craftsmanship. 2015 Twist console (estimate £12.000-18.000) is a statement piece that perfectly exemplifies this aesthetic.
