The Bill Blass Archive Has Finally Come to Market
Selections from the archive of groundbreaking American fashion designer Bill Blass are hitting the block for the first time ever this New York Fashion Week. In addition to its sale of outfits from The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026), Christie’swill offer more than 100 Blass creations in an online auction titled “Bill Blass: American Elegance.” Bidding opens for two weeks starting September 9.
A sequin embroidered ‘Matisse’ sleeveless cocktail dress from 1988 (est. $2,000 – $3,000). Photo: courtesy of Christie’s Images LTD.
“American Elegance” spans 129 lots. Some 110 of these are garments; the rest include original sketches and letters from reified fans such as journalist Barbara Walters and First Lady Nancy Regan. The clothes in particular cover much of Blass’s career. The earliest among them is a jacket made of silk flowers from the 1960s, estimated to achieve $1,000 to $2,000. Blass made this maximalist piece for Maurice Rentner, the second designer he worked for in New York, following his humble Indiana upbringing and his storied run in the military’s “Ghost Army” during World War II.
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Blass bought Rentner’s firm in 1970, and established his own. Over the next three decades, he dressed the modern woman on her quest to have it all—career and family, comfort and style.
A gold metallic beaded ‘Klimt’ dress ensemble from 1995 (est. $1,500 – $2,500). Photo: courtesy of Christie’s Images LTD.
Peter Som, who worked for Blass as an assistant designer in the late 1990s, and then as creative director after Blass’s death in the aughts, curated the auction. Its clothing encompasses approximately 60 dresses, 20 coats and jackets, and 30 suits and sets. Most hail from the 1980s and 1990s, and bear hallmarks of their era, like the black and white patterns on Blass’s quilted silk coat from 1993 (estimate: $400–$600) and the bit of cheetah beneath his scarlet bubble dress of 1987 ($500–$700). As Blass famously stated, “When in doubt, wear red.”
Other selections highlight the marriage of art and fashion, such as the set from Blass’s Gustav Klimt-inspired Fall/Winter 1995 collection ($1,500–$2,500), and the shiny numbers from his Spring/Summer 1988 runway, which honored the National Gallery of Art‘s 1986 exhibition on Henri Matisse.
A letter Diana Vreeland wrote to Blass in 1974. Photo: courtesy of Christie’s Images LTD.
Nearly half these clothes come with Blass’s original sketches. Nineteen additional lots focus solely on ephemera such as a cache of letters between Blass and various fashion magazine editors ($800–$1,200). In one instance, former Vogue leader Diana Vreeland, who spent 16 years consulting for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, thanked Blass for donating several replica film costumes. (The designer eventually bequeathed half his fortune and a few antiquities to the institution.)
Highlights from this monumental event will go on view at Christie’s Rockefeller Center headquarters from September 8 through 13. A wider showcase will take place at Blass’s townhome, September 18 through 22.