On Oct. 30, Christie's in London will auction off the world's finest collection of 20th Century fashion in private hands. The Resurrection: Avant-Garde Fashion sale features seminal designs from the past 50 years, from "Pop Art and the Space Age of the 1960s through the iconoclasm of the 1970s and the revival of architectural couture of the 1980s and 1990s."

The 250 lots include a carefully curated assemblage of garments, headwear and jewelry from designers including Pierre Cardin, Paco Rabanne, Vivienne Westwood, Azzedine Alaia, Gianni Versace and Issey Miyake, among others. The top-priced lot is this full length wedding dress made from plates of white leather linked by metal rings by Paco Rabanne in 1967, est. about $12,000 - $16,000.

A few months ago, British socialite Daphne Guinness auctioned off some of her couture possessions for a good cause. Now willowy British model Erin O'Connor has followed suit. She has consigned thirty items of designer clothing and accessories to be sold at auction through Christie's, South Kensington. The proceeds go directly to the British Fashion Council which nurtures young designers and models at the start of their careers. Her items include dresses, jackets and shoes by top names such as Marc Jacobs, Chanel and Alexander McQueen.

O'Connor has an abiding interest in young fashionistas, last year she began The Model Sanctuary, a retreat and area for models to find health advice during the hectic tumult of London Fashion Week.

The Beckhams have a knack for getting themselves into the spotlight, so it seems a little out of character that Victoria Beckham's
debut as fashion designer will be happening in a very quiet and private way. Instead of showing off her new upscale dress designs via the catwalk at New York Fashion Week she will instead be showing them by appointment only over a period of several days.

Why she's going with such a quiet launch isn't clear, although if the dresses are successful I'm sure we'll all get to see them soon enough. Expect price tags for the collection to be upwards of $1200.

Part of the fun of writing up a piece on Christian Dior Couture is the chance to showcase a photo yet another of the fabulous designs of John Galliano. As WWD reported last month, haute couture is hot right now, bearing out the trend that while mid-level luxury is faltering, all is well at the top of the market. Now Christian DIor Couture backs that up with the news that first half sales increased 5 percent at constant exchange rates to 366 million euros, or $560.2 million. Dior released a statement saying that they are strong in China, Russia, and the Middle East as well as Europe. The couture news was released with results for Christian Dior Group, the parent of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior Couture which showed that the revenues at the holding company rose 11 percent at constant exchange to 8.15 billion euros, or $12.48 billion but the group share of net profit dipped 1.7 percent to 352 million euros or $538.8 million. Looks like they'll be turning out these pretty dresses for a long time to come.

Fashion stylist Phillip Bloch is moving on from simply fixing people's clothes to designing them from the ground up. He's teaming up with the contemporary Emma & Posh to come up with an all-cashmere collection for this year's holiday season. And if you're excited about this first attempt you'll be happy to know that both sides say this is only the beginning of what looks to be a long-term partnership. Look for the Phillip Bloch for Emma & Posh collection in stores like Henri Bendel and Fred Segal with price points around $108-$188.

Various magazines and other sources are reporting that shades of purple are hip for fall. Fashion Week Daily reports that Neiman Marcus has joined the purple push. Their Fall 2008 trend event which runs from August 15 to August 23 will focus on berry colors as well as showcasing other key fall trends such as the return of the lady-like look. Any customer who spends $250 at the store will receive a Neiman Marcus PDA/mobile phone cover in the plummy shade shown at right.

Photo by Michael Thompson / W magazine

While we're on the subject of the Supermodel Comeback - which we think will be in the news for a while yet - it's worth pointing out Christy Turlington's stunning new shoot in the August issue of W magazine, titled "Champion". The 39-year-old knockout, who as we mentioned has been re-signed as the face of German fashion house Escada, poses as a "Greco-Roman warrior-goddess" for photog Michael Thompson in old-school black-and-white. Talk about classical beauty - obviously all that yoga and being married to Ed Burns agrees with her.

Brit fashion brand Burberry has announced that first-quarter revenues have risen by 26 per cent, continuing the upswing we reported on earlier this year. The growth is due to increased business in emerging markets and strong performance in North America, the Times of London reports. The uncertain economy has proved challenging to some luxury brands.

The company, founded in 1856, recently opened new stores have in Cannes, Budapest, Italy, Korea and Spain, and has launched a cool new ad campaign. "Our brand momentum is strong, driven by product innovation and a focused management team," Burberry chief executive Angela Ahrendts told the paper. "This momentum, together with the diversity and balance we have across products, channels and regions, underpins our confidence for the future."

It appears that Louis Vuitton's love affair with '90s supermodels is a lasting one. The luxury brand has brought back Czech stunner Eva Herzigova, who starred in last season's Richard Prince-themed ads (above), for its new fall campaign. The futuristic new ads, shot by fashion photog duo Mert and Marcus at the Unisphere in Queens, feature the latest line of Vuitton bags including the new Takashi Murakami "Monogramouflage" design. Herzigova, who has starred in LV campaigns in years past, inspired the design house's classic "Eva Clutch" that my colleague Star Sutherland wrote about last month. See the gallery for images from the new campaign and more.

Like the high-end art market, the high-end fashion market continues to remain afloat in difficult times. This week is Paris Fashion Week and as WWD reports couture, the very top of the fashion world, contains to see strong sales. The number of couture clothes available is very small and clothing is in the thousands of dollars per piece.

So far, the couture business for fashion houses like Giorgio Armani, Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix hasn't seen any fall off from the declining U.S. economy. The customers for couture exist at the very highest end of the economic spectrum and are often immune to even fairly dramatic economic shifts. Also new clients from Russia, the Middle East and Asia continue to provide a stream of new customers.

Chanel reports that today's client wants a lot of attention and can be demanding. The Chanel team has flown around the world for fittings and presentations. It seems that today's couture houses have to work harder for their customers than ever before often because today's clients have increasingly busy schedules.

Couture also remains a way to reinforce a brand's image. We can't all afford the gorgeous Galliano gown shown above but the beautiful couture clothing serves as an advertisement for the quality and inventiveness of the designer.

Italian design house Gianfranco Ferre has signed multi-billion dollar deal to develop real estate projects with a fashionable flair. Ferre is partnering with Mideast-based GIO Developments on the deal, and the first project, called "Gianfranco Ferre Stresa," will be a mixed-use highrise in Dubai. The $1.2 billion tower will combine residential, commercial and hospitality spaces, and the partnership has dubbed it the first example of "concrete couture." Other similar projects are planned around the globe. Mr. Ferre himself, who was fittingly known as the "architect of fashion," died last year. The company bearing his name already has a strong presence in the region with existing stores in Dubai, Beirut and Istanbul and new openings planned for Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait within the year. Other design houses currently collaborating on Dubai developments include Versace, Christian Lacroix and Elie Saab.

Johnny Depp's gorgeous longtime girlfriend, French model/singer/actress Vanessa Paradis, has been chosen to replace Kirsten Dunst as the face of Miuccia Prada's sporty Miu Miu diffusion line. Paradis will appear in the label's futuristic Fall/Winter ads (right) shot by sought-after fashion photog duo Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot in Los Angeles, Vogue UK reports.

"At once a deconstruction and a pure visual composition, the campaign addresses the exploration of beauty in conjunction with intellect, imagination, and divergence," a Miu Miu rep says. Paradis has previously appeared in several ads for Chanel. She and Depp have been together for 10 years and have two children. Last year my colleague Deirdre Woolard reported that Depp had bought her a vineyard near St. Tropez.

Fashion designer Donatella Versace took a timely inspiration for her latest fashion show. The woman who once said she wanted to dress Hillary Clinton in more feminine outfits and less pantsuits has turned her attention to Barack Obama. Versace dedicated her Spring-Summer 2009 collection presented Saturday evening to Obama. Of course she had some fashion tips for the Presidential candidate as well, she urged him to shed the tie and "jazz up the shirt." Her collection was certainly short on ties and long on jazzy colors, offering suit jackets with double lapels or no lapels at all, slim shiny trousers and shirts in summery pastel shades of pale blue, lemon yellow and lavender.

[Thanks, Lana]

We look at lots of photo books in this line of work, but we've rarely been as impressed by one as much as teNeues' massive new Tim Walker monograph. The fact that the Brit fashion photographer's name is not as well known as that of some lesser talents must surely be corrected by the barrage of surreal, sublime images in Tim Walker: Pictures. A former assistant of Richard Avedon's, the 38-year-old obviously learned from the master, but he could hardly be called an Avedon imitator with his flair for elaborate, dreamlike tableaux. An exhibit of Walker's work opened in London last month, but for the $125 this vibrant volume costs you can be transported much further afield. No expense was spared for the extravagant British Vogue holiday shoot pictured above; the magazine even bought the vintage Rolls-Royce in case Walker had to destroy it in order to get the photo just right, as he never uses digital manipulation in his work. See the gallery for more.

[via Men.Style]

Brilliant British designer Sir Paul Smith recently celebrated an important milestone in his colorful career: the 10th anniversary of his incredible flagship store in London's Notting Hill, Westbourne House. The perfect realization of a long term dream of Sir Paul's, the shop is designed to feel like someone's tastefully, quirkily lavish London home, and features a unique range of men's and women's clothes and accessories, housewares and knickknacks alongside a cllection of jewellery, books, art and antiques.

The architecturally-significant establishment is also the center of his exclusive bespoke tailoring operation. Smith says he still gets a thrill every time he walks in the door. To commemorate the anniversary, Smith and friends like shoe maestro Manolo Blahnik have created of limited edition products, available exclusively at Westbourne House, including watercolors, hand-painted plates, jewelry and a retro radio.

Smith, whose known for his signature multicolored stripes, opened his first clothing shop in 1970 and showed his first menswear collection under the Paul Smith label in 1976. Today Westbourne House is one of 14 Paul Smith shops in England; there are also outlets in Paris, Milan, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and others, as well as dozens in Japan, where Sir Paul is something of a cult figure. Today he has 12 different collections including Paul Smith, Paul Smith Women, Paul Smith Jeans, Paul Smith London, Paul Smith Bespoke, Paul Smith Shoes, Paul Smith Fragrance and Paul Smith Spectacles. The company's annual revenue as of 2006 exceeded $600 million.