Karl Lagerfeld auctions sketches

Early sketches drawn by Karl Lagerfeld during his time at the House of Tiziani, in Rome, are going up for auction at the Palm Beach Modern Auctions in Florida. Almost half a century after the sketches were made, the drawings still showcase the designers influence on the industry.

During the 1960s, Tiziani fashion house created movie costumes and outfits for celebrities like Elizabeth Taylor. Karl Lagerfeld worked for the European fashion house as a freelancer during his early designing career and the meticulous details he added to his sketches for Taylor and other starlets set him apart from the other designers.

The Tiziani achieve, with consists of over 300 sketches, is said to encompass the change in fashion moving from haute couture to the more available ready-to-wear designs. The collection was first kept by Tiziani's founder, Evan Richards, who kept Lagerfeld's sketches and designs, alongside other pieces made for the fashion house during the 1960s.

Lagerfeld's sketches are said to be one of the auctions highlights, alongside memorabilia from Taylor and Richards. “These are more works of art. I don't think people put that much effort into the sketches of today,” said Bill Hamilton, who designed for Carolina Herrera for 17 years and currently designs for private clients after reviewing the Tiziani archieve. He adds Lagerfeld's sketches for Tiziani are much “younger-looking” and “much free.”

Rico Baca, auctioneer and co-owner of the auction house hopes that the sketches will attract buyers to the auction, which is to be held on January 11. He adds the value of the archive as a whole was difficult to estimate, but bidding on the sketches will most likely begin at 500 dollars a piece.

"It was not meant to be art, but as 50 years have gone by, it has become art because it was done by Lagerfeld," concluded Baca.