Paris PR Maven Puts Personal and Professional Archive Up For Auction
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PARIS — “It’s an encounter with someone who always walked an avant-garde path personally and professionally, and expressed those choices in her wardrobe,” said expert and curator Pénélope Blankaert ahead of the “2e Bureau and Sylvie Grumbach, From Avant-garde to Today” online auction by the Paris-based Millon auction house that runs until September.
The PR maven decided it was time to let part of her archive go when she needed to turn an attic chockablock with old account books — and no shortage of fashion items — into a library dedicated to fashion at the Domaine des Oseraies, a foundation dedicated to creative industries held by her family.
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Some 233 lots are going under the hammer, drawing from the early days of the 40-year-old press office. “I opened 2e Bureau with Vivienne Westwood, [photographer] Jean-Paul Goude and Swatch, and it was a time where designers, like some artists, did not take back their clothing or sometimes paid by telling you to keep the collection,” recalled Grumbach.
At the time, “press officers were not just promoting a product. They had many jobs at the same time, from sitting on fittings ahead of a collection’s presentation, working on casting and production of the shows. They were steeped in the collections and the designer’s aesthetic,” recalled Grumbach.
Dressing the part saw her don designs by a wide-ranging cadre of creatives, from Westwood and John Galliano long before he made his debut at Christian Dior, to Hyères fashion festival winner Kenta Matsushige.
A scion of the textile industry, she followed in the family track by day, cutting her teeth at buying offices; becoming involved in the “Créateurs et Industriels” concept store and incubator alongside her brother Didier Grumbach, who would later head the French couture federation, and interiors maven Andrée Putman; and later opening the 2e Bureau press office, which still represents the likes of trade show Première Vision and Première Classe, the Hyères fashion festival and the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa. By night, Grumbach was a fixture at now-legendary nightclub Le Palace and would eventually become the PR for another night spot, Les Bains Douches.
At the time, “press officers were not just promoting a product. They had many jobs at the same time, from sitting on fittings ahead of a collection’s presentation, working on casting and production of the shows. They were steeped in the collections and the designer’s aesthetic,” recalled Grumbach.
Among the items going under the hammer are a spring 1992 gingham crop blouse and tulle-trimmed shorts by Vivienne Westwood; another ensemble cut from metallized green denim finished with red topstitching from the late British designer; a fall 1993 “Anglomania” blouse with matching checked trousers; as well as a black-and-neon-yellow zippered blouson from fall 1990 and a spring 1991 military-inflected short jacket in Lycra and flannel finished with champagne-tone rubber tubing from John Galliano.
Beyond a snapshot of an effervescent fashion epoch, Blanckaert said the items selected for the auction had stood out because they represented “the beginning of a creative journey that lasts to this day,” pointing out an early Galliano design redolent of the Bar jackets he would later revisit during his tenure at Dior, or the “World’s End McLaren Westwood” overalls that prefigured the more romantic direction that Westwood is best remembered for.
“And they’re rare because most hail from a time where you didn’t keep archives as an emerging label, especially when money was tight,” noted the expert.
Also well represented is Thierry Mugler, with a cotton velvet set of a corset top and pedal-pusher pants, a short military-inspired black jacket, a cement-colored tailored jacket and matching wide slacks, and a dove-gray leg-baring pleated jersey dress finished with guipure lace. Accessories are aplenty, too, with scores of brooches, gloves and sunglasses, as well as low boots and a few handbags from the likes of Westwood, Alaïa and Gucci.
Museum-worthy as some pieces are, Grumbach would prefer to see these pieces be worn. “I’ve always loved wearing clothes because it’s too sad otherwise,” she said. “These are marvelous memories — and some have partied hard.”
The sale is open until Sept. 7, exclusively via the Drouot Digital website. The collection can be seen by appointment at the Millon auction house at 5 Avenue d’Eylau in Paris’ tony 16th arrondissement from Monday to Aug. 4, then Sept. 4 to 7.
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