Dishes used to feed one of the world’s most pampered cats and hundreds of pairs of fingerless gloves will be among more than 1,000 lots at eight auctions selling the collection of Karl Lagerfeld, Sotheby’s has announced.
The auction house announced earlier this year that it would sell the vast and varied number of objects that the late fashion designer accumulated to fill his eight residences in Monaco and France.
On Monday it revealed more details: there is art by Jeff Koons, contemporary design by Marc Newson and designer suit jackets by Dior. Then there are items belonging to Choupette, a cat so adored by Lagerfeld that he asked for her to receive money in his will.
Sotheby’s confirmed that “the dishes of Choupette – the cat who shared the last eight years of the designer’s life”, will be among the objects being sold.
They are likely to be as far away from any old bit of Tupperware as it is possible to be. The day-to-day life of the fluffy white Birman reportedly involved a bodyguard, a personal chef, two maids and professionally managed social media accounts. Dinner could be caviar, smoked salmon and king crab. Travel was by private jet.
Lagerfeld, who died in 2019 aged 85, said in a 2012 interview: “She has an attitude like a princess.”
If it had been possible, he once suggested to CNN, he would have married Choupette. “There is no marriage, yet, for human beings and animals … I never thought that I would fall in love like this with a cat,” he told CNN.
Sotheby’s said Choupette’s feeding dishes had yet to be catalogued and photographed but they would be in the sale, as will his household linens, his three Rolls-Royce cars and more than 200 pairs of the fingerless leather gloves that he consistently wore for 20 years.
There will also be “an astonishing number of Goyard suitcases”, the auction house added.
Examples of the artwork being sold include a portrait of Lagerfield by Takashi Murakami, numbered 1/1 and dated 2014. It comes with an estimate of €80,000 to €120,000 (£68,000 to £102,000).
Designer furniture will include a polished aluminium zenith chair by Marc Newson, which comes with an estimate of €40,000 to €60,000.
Sotheby’s predicted the auctions would be “as surprising and multifaceted as the designer himself” and “offer an anthology of his personal taste”.
Lagerfeld was one of the true titans of 20th-century fashion, joining Chanel in 1983 and reinventing it from a small house to an industry leader. He also held long-term design positions at Fendi and Chloé.
The sales will begin in Monaco on 3, 4 and 5 December, followed by Paris on 14-15 December and then sales in Cologne in the spring.
