In the final page of Jane Austen’s Emma, a snobbish character pooh-poohs the title character’s bridal dress for having “very little white satin, very few lace veils; a most pitiful business”. Buyers at the auction of Emma Woodhouse’s wedding dress as worn by Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1996 film adaptation are expected to overlook those haughty words as they bid for a lot estimated to fetch up to £3,000 ($3,931).
The scoop-necked embroidered white cotton bridal gown, which helped to garner its designer an Oscar nomination, is one of 73 items at the Cosprop sale overseen by Kerry Taylor Auctions that includes outfits worn by Bette Davis, Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet.
The 1996 film ends with a shot of Gwyneth kissing Jeremy Northam, her Mr Knightley beneath a floral arch. Another Regency costume is Kate Winslet’s empire-line green-spotted dress from her portrayal of Marianne Dashwood in the 1995 film adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, with an upper estimate of £1,500 ($1,965). Kate’s pale blue damask silk gown from Finding Neverland is also on sale (£3,000/$3,931) as is her 19th-century style blouse and skirt from her portrayal of Ophelia in the 1996 adaptation of Hamlet.
Bette’s ivory silk and linen costume, estimated to fetch up to £3,500 ($4,586), is from her role as the kleptomaniac American socialite Marie van Schuyler in the 1978 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile. The 1918-style costume, featuring a longline jacket and matching skirt, was designed by Anthony Powell, who won the Best Costume Oscar for the film. Angela Lansbury’s costume from the same film, in which her character is murdered, is a brown chiffon North-African style dress worth an estimated £1,000 ($1,310).
© Alamy Stock PhotoAdmirers of Johnny can bid on the bowler-hatted, frock-coated costume he wore in From Hell and his black tailcoat from Finding Neverland (both with an upper estimate of £5,000/$6,552). However, the highlight of the auction is his black velvet tailcoat and satinised wool trousers worn for his performance as the mannered detective Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow, Tim Burton’s 19th century fantasy, with a high estimate of £45,000 ($58,969).
Bidders can also dress themselves as Elizabeth Taylor as she appeared in Young Toscanini in 1998, in an 1880s style tartan silk dress with shades of blue, black and white, or an ivory damask silk evening gown trimmed with black Chantilly lace. Dame Maggie Smith's costumes include five Edwardian-style dresses from the third and fourth series of Downton Abbey (£1,500/$1,965 each) alongside a 1930s-style red polka dot trouser suit worn for the 1982 adaptation of Evil Under the Sun (£1,800/$2,358).
© Alamy Stock PhotoBidders fancying themselves as a seductress may lean towards Kristin Scott Thomas's white silk gown trimmed with black velvet, in which her Gosford Park character ravishes a valet. Other stars with costumes for sale include Ava Gardner (cream cotton 1920s style dress from the 1981 film Priest of Love, £1,200/$1,572), Emily Blunt (brightly patterned chiffon dress with crossover bodice from the 2004 adaptation of Death on the Nile, £600/$786), Nicole Kidman (purple cardigan and brown skirt from The Others, £5,000/$6,529), Marion Cotillard (sheer black chiffon gown from La Vie en Rose, £2,500/$3,276) and Demi Moore (lilac 1940s style evening gown from Flawless, £1,000/$1,310).
Register to bid in the Cosprop sale overseen by Kerry Taylor Auctions
