If working-from-home ’fits have taught the fashion-obsessed anything, it’s that the most magical expressions of personal style can happen behind closed doors. Such is the case with Jennifer Zuiker’s Alexander McQueen collection, compiled during Lee Alexander McQueen’s lifespan and composed of ready-to-wear and couture-grade pieces. Zuiker, a Los Angeles resident and collector, purchased iconic pieces direct from the McQueen maison over two decades, building a museum-worthy archive of famous bumster pants, Plato’s Atlantis dresses, and Sarabande jackets. The auction will be held online via Doyle, with Zuiker’s pieces remaining in storage in Los Angeles until the sale on 10 September.
“I met Jennifer many moons ago and we just struck up an immediate friendship,” says Lady Kinvara Balfour, a producer of the 2018 documentary McQueen, which featured Zuiker’s collection. Balfoun, who helped facilitate the sale, says, “Jennifer was very private and didn’t want any fame or glory for herself, but was really happy to have her clothes featured. Her collection is on another level.” Real fashion obsessives will notice a parallel between Zuiker’s collection – mostly unworn, museum-grade pieces – and that of Sandy Scheier’s archive, which was the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s last exhibit before Covid-19 closures. Schreier, a Detroit native, maintained a collection of several hundred pieces of couture and ready-to-wear, never wearing it. Zuiker’s collection of legendary McQueen pieces is similar: The work of a singular master preserved in time.
“I think collections like Jennifer’s are so precious because he’s gone,” says Balfour. “I will definitely be buying a couple pieces.” Buyers of the individual and institutional sort should take that into consideration as they plan their budgets for this sure-to-be epic sale.
Previously published on British Vogue
Editor
Steff YotkaCredit
Lead image: Chris Moore/Catwalking/Getty Images
