Sunday, September 20, 2015

PRESS UPDATE : THE MAIL ON SUNDAY .. SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 20TH 2015

Joan's great fashion strip! I'm clearing out my corsets - I mean, closets - for charity darlings...but will you dare to bare and wear my cast-offs?

Joan Collins, one of the greatest style icons, is auctioning off her outfits
The lots include intimate numbers from some of her best-known roles
The 82-year-old actress was made a Dame in the New Years Honours List
It is hoped to help raise millions for some of Joan's favourite charities

By CAROLINE GRAHAM IN LOS ANGELES FOR THE MAIL ON SUNDAY

PUBLISHED: 23:58 GMT, 19 September 2015 | UPDATED: 23:58 GMT, 19 September 2015

She is one of the greatest style icons of all time. As Alexis Carrington in 1980s TV series Dynasty, Joan Collins epitomised the era of power dressing – and rarely appears off screen without her trademark glitz and glamour.

Now the 82-year-old actress, who was made a Dame in the New Year Honours List, is to auction off scores of fabulous outfits, including some more intimate numbers, to raise millions for her favourite charities.

Dame Joan, a self-professed ‘hoarder and collector’, has saved hundreds of costumes from her six-decade career, including her incredible Dynasty clothing.

Lot One - Put this evil outfit to the sword!

Lot One: This revealing corset and suspenders proved a little more bawdy than Bard when Dame Joan appeared on stage in Over The Moon (right) at The Old Vic, London, in 2001. And she had the oldest excuse. 'Oh God, it was part of the plot,' she says. 'I hated weared it. I had to wear this red wig and this evil corset. I was a bit "eerm" but I did it. No regrets.'

At her home in St Tropez, she said: ‘I’ve had all this stuff in storage for years.

‘I kept everything, but my daughters aren’t going to wear it, so I thought I’d let somebody else appreciate it.’

She also revealed she designs many gowns herself: ‘I find it extraordinarily hard to find any evening dresses to fit me, which is why I designed most of mine.

'I know what flatters me. Designers don’t create for a real woman’s body.’

Lot Two - Ready for bed...it must be Dynasty!

Lot Two: It was a case of girl-power dressing for this revealing Dynasty shot in 1983. 'Nolan Miller was the designer for the show,' says Joan. 'He had amazing women who had been making clothes by hand for 40 or 50 years. Each piece was a work of art.

And she admitted she was not sad to say farewell to her creations: ‘I never miss anything that doesn’t miss you.’

The gowns will be on display at Ireland’s Newbridge Silverware Museum of Style Icons between October 5 and November 8.

The auction will be at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, on December 16.

Lot Three - Hot pants or cocktail dress? No contest

Lot Three: Joan was feeling blue about this ad for Snickers chocolate in 2012. 'It's my least favourite colour,' she complains,' but they insisted.' At least she got to wear a dress. 'If you're over 50 you shouldn't wear hot pants.'

Lots Four and Five - Fur and shoulder pads, always

Even Joan found this cape (left) by Edwards-Lowell Furs and Nolan Miller (1960s) a bit too much: 'People then were not so uptight about fur. But I thought it was over the top.' The Fabrice gown (right) worn at the Variety Club awards in 1986, was more to her taste: 'The applique was fabulous.' Darling.

Lot Six - Silky smooth...and I don't mean the Hoff

Joan wore this sild nightgown by Donfeld for The Cartier Affair in 1984, with David Hasselhoff, who preferred to model chest hair. Hasselhoff plays an ex-convict trying to steal the gems. Joan says she's always loved costume jewellery: 'I began collecting at 18 - my favourite was a copy of the diamonds Richard Burton gave to Liz Taylor.' Joan, too, seems to be forever...

Bids can be placed online, by phone or in person at Julien’s Auctions.

Property From The Collection of Dame Joan Collin’s catalogs can be purchased for $50 at www.juliensauctions.com.

Museum exhibitions will be curated at the following dates and locations: