Presentworth

As arguably the most versatile garment that former fashion designer Martin Margiela made with his eponymous Paris-based Maison Martin Margiela, this convertible draping double-faced ...

This couture Maison Martin Margiela Artisanal "Line 0" 1990s miniature-belt silver-plated buckled and riveted vegetable-tanned chocolate leather bracelet or anklet, whose harness-style firm strap mimics a fine-jewelry coiled metal rope chain, was hand moulded into a fixed shape from a remodeled strap from an eariler Margiela collection or used accessory. Notably, silver-frame buckles and riveted unstitched leather straps were among the founder's most repeated design elements for accessories at the Maison since his first fashion show in 1989 (see our snaps of early Look-ensemble recreations that he handmade in miniature on dolls, or the largest buckled leather belt that he designed), as well as during his tenure directing luxury womenswear at Hermes (1997-2003) when he created the iconic "Double Tour" wrap-around strap buckle-framed watch. Regarding the significance of the bare leather that he used in our piece and later for some ready-to-wear at Hermes, Margiela was quoted (translated from French): "My favorite (Hermes) watch was the Cape Cod designed...

Handmade in England in 2004 by recent Louvre-museum-exhibited British Duro Olowu for the debut of his eponymous brand, this mixed-print silk kimono sleeve empire-waist mini dress fea...

This Comme des Garcons black flared-hip fitted shirt cum open jacket, which features a unique feminine bustle-like applique hand-stitched into draping bias-cut pleats layered around the inner hem, was designed by Japanese Junya Wantanabe for an early 2000s collection. Significantly, TheMet museum made rare purchases of his similar experimental three-dimensional patterning for its Costume Institute after the designer debuted what he described as "techno couture...

Handmade in the 1970s by the museum-collected U.S. milliner known as "the mad hatter of the Midwest", Chicago-based Raymond Hudd (1924-2011, nee Huddlestu...

Made in Italy in the 1990s in garnet-color thick stretch wool for a soft tight fit that remarkably drapes, Romeo Gigli designed this off-shoulder pullover knit top like a long sleeve...

Featuring his characteristic "couture a porter" innovative craftsmanship, Ermanno Scervino designed this guipure lace white viscose crochet knit mini dress for a resort collection. S...

This unique reversible handmade black soft leather aviator cap with a mint-condition cotton velvet interior and leather strap is most likely from the 1950s, when actor Marlon Brando ...

Handmade in England in 2004 by recent-Louvre-museum-exhibited Nigerian-born British Duro Olowu for the debut of his eponymous brand, this mixed-print silk-trimmed kimono sleeve empir...

This Valentino Made In Italy semi-transparent 100% silk charmeuse pink fuchsia raspberry sleeveless pullover top features a low scoop neck in front with wide shoulders and darts for ...

Embodying Yohji Yamamoto's unique combination of Japanese classic fashion draping and construction with Savile-Row menswear tailoring for women, this early 1990s convertible wool whi...

Among the Greek-goddess-inspired mini dresses that Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) designed for his first French Haute Couture Givenchy collection in 19...

With his signature beige color and elegant minimalist bodycon style, Italian Giorgio Armani (1934-2025) designed this semi-transparent 100%-silk pointelle knit sleeveless fit-and-fla...

As an example of her characteristically feminine fitted sweaters with colorful stripes, Parisian Sonia Rykiel (1930-2016) designed this made-in-Italy soft merino wool knit pullover f...

Offered at its original late 1990s price with the iconic marijuana-camoflage-skull graphic, this rare Lucien Pellat-Finet (1945-2024) finely-knit black 100%-cotton long-sleeve pullov...

Signed FRM, these handcrafted Art Deco style textural mixed-metal drop pierced earrings feature four bezel-and-prong-set faceted red garnets topping 16 hand-wired beaded thin chains....

This unique Jugendstil Art-Nouveau period early 20th Century intricate sterling pendant with celestial-motif openwork recalling shape-shifting bats in flight by master silversmith Ge...

With grosgrain bows and ribbon appliques distinctly designed by Italian Valentino Garavani (1932-2026) to feminize a textile pattern and shape associated with traditional military-or...

This Dolce & Gabbana grey soft virgin-wool fine-knit sleeveless strapped V-neck evening cocktail dress, which was made in Italy for a mid-2000s Fall/Winter collection, features a see...

Accented by delicate emu feathers, this French couture silk chiffon flower brooch or hat pin was painted, cut and appliqued by hand to appear like a large rose. It was acquired in Fr...

With intricately hand-embroidered pink-tone ombre reflective rose flowers and 20-inch hand-knotted tassel fringe on all sides, this museum-quality antique 85-inch-square ballet-pink ...

Encrusted with enameled turbo shells shaped like miniature mollusks and mixed with iridescent crystals, this elaborately ornamented and intricately textured unsigned pair of starfish...

Made with stunning cut-velvet silk lame of metallic gold and shimmering black threads woven in a floral pattern on black silk chiffon, Cuban-American Adolfo Sardiña (1923-2021) desig...

With couture black embroidered lace elements mixed with a distinct painterly abstract art print by Christian Lacroix c1980s, this Italian-made embellished cocktail dress for the Gold...

Handmade by legendary fashion-scene photographer for The New York Times and prior midcentury couture milliner Bill J. Cunningham (1929-2016), this rare asymmetrical black supple leat...

With an elegant tucked front and artful drama on the back, this Gianni Versace Couture Spring/Summer 1996 black crepe short-sleeve lined mini dress features peek-a-boo art-like cut-o...

Made by a Jean Paul Gaultier accessory designer during Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week in January 2004, this custom-made feather headpiece with a black long three-prong hair comb fe...

Distinguished by the tightly coiled style of Georgian-period-inspired cannetille gold wire that decorates each of the four pieces of this parure, French costume-jewelry designer Lina...

Remarkably more expressive than iconic phoenix brooches by Jean Schlumberger or Marcel Boucher, this unique Georgian-style three-dimensional bird bar brooch by an artisan silversmith...

This chased 14k-gold almost-abstract whimsical ostrich bird with a shiny textural plume features prong-set round cabochons of turquoise and chalcedony with smaller colorful cut gems ...

Signed "Made in France", this Parisian couture poured glass and lampworked flower-like spray brooch has its artisan-wired construction concealed by a decorative gilt filigree scallop...

Handmade by New York-based milliner Jennifer Ouellette who custom designs head pieces for couture clients, this 1990s "candy" tweed wide band or draping tiara is intricately decorate...

Conjuring an American flag, this unique handmade deconstructed cotton and satin cape that is convertible as a wrap skirt was created in 1998 by radical New York City artist-and-archi...

Made in France, this Balmain Paris vibrant reddish-orange knit mini dress in reflective dense viscose features dozens of spaghetti-strap-laced yellow-gold eyelets that line both seam...

With a unique hand-folded, gathered and top-stitched square neckline with triangular "lumps", this asymmetrical lightweight-wool long-sleeve pullover loose-fitting blouse was designe...

These deconstructed black balloon pants by Comme des Garcons founder Rei Kawakubo premiered on the Paris Fashion Week runway for her S/S 2003 collection. Featuring unique cut work th...

Designed by Oscar de la Renta in the 1970s, this poppy-red pointelle knitted long-sleeve sweater with peek-a-boo textural stripes features a dramatic circular ruffle collar that drap...

This Emanuel Ungaro Paris double-ruffle-trimmed bright red layered baby-doll evening cocktail mini-dress features a handpainted-tulip print that has different effects on the shiny si...

Featuring a biomorphic image created by Spain-based renowned multimedia artist Sybilla, this rare billowy bias-cut semi-transparent layered silk crepe sleeveless V-neck midi dress fo...

Signed with the early "Mazer Bros" signature, this Art-Deco period decorative link bracelet was created in the early 1930s while former Cartier designer Marcel Boucher was the design...

With distinct handmade glass by French Maison Gripoix for a faux-amethyst 25mm open-back oval cabochon poured into a forged wire ring topped with a serrated-bezel setting, this is a ...

When fuchsia Burmese rubies were among the most expensive gems in the 1930s, Elsa Schiaparelli began to embrace their "shocking pink" color while designing couture clothing in Paris ...

This antique French chain necklace with three-inch drop pendants features 33 natural citrines, including 16 polished teardrop and 17 faceted golden quartz beads. It was constructed b...

These couture Roger Vivier Paris platform stilettos with a heel height of four-and-a-half inches feature dark-chocolate brown fine calf leather and leopard-print animal hair with thr...

This couture 1930s Chanel-commissioned French Maison Gripoix hand-crafted demi-parure features eight flower pendants whose daisy-like metalsmithed petal frames suspend transparent aq...

French Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel commissioned Parisian Maison Gripoix in the late 1930s to fabricate this elegant handmade drop-chain choker necklace for one of her couture clients. In...

Featuring ornate stamped brass findings c1930, this Miriam Haskell floral-motif collar necklace was made by her first designer Frank Hess in an Art-Nouveau style with 15 dangling bud-shaped or fluted-ball pendants, which are linked by intricately textured bands and oval rings that form the chain choker. Among the festoon of graduating charms, the largest centered pendant is 1.5 inches long and 0.75 inches in diameter. One of our photos show that the surprisingly light-weight pendants are hollow--some with a hole punched at the bottom. The distinct stamped brass, which include a fold-over clasp, are found in more obviously Haskell-Hess pre-WWII jewelry...

From the S/S 2000 collection that Rei Kawakubo described as "beautiful chaos", this purple-overdyed grey stretch knit short-sleeve pullover top, which is perceived as different shade...

Unlike anything else from the 1990s, Comme des Garcons founder Rei Kawakubo (b. 1942) designed in 1999 for her Spring/Summer 2000 collection this pink-overdyed pullover soft stretch-...

British Stella McCartney for her eponymous brand's second collection for Fall/Winter 2002 designed this airy layered silk-chiffon empire-waist cap-sleeve rose-color pullover blouse, ...

Brunello Cucinelli uniquely designed these impeccably tailored 100%-virgin-wool grey shorts c.2010, whose back is concealed by tuxedo tails fashioned from a curvilinear-cut and cente...

Appearing in several versions on the Stella McCartney Spring/Summer 2003 collection runway with silk oversized long bell sleeves (see our photos of the gold and white versions beginn...

Trimmed with 40 diamond-like crystals and marked "deposee" for its uniqueness on the clasp like antique European couture jewelry, this Art-Deco period Swiss Bucherer lady's dress wat...

Marked "Made In France" on their antique brass back-plates like the initial unbranded couture costume-jewelry commissioned by Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel since 1924, these painterly earl...

Given the stenciled YSL logo that had been created in 1961 while the founding fashion designer was only producing Parisian Haute Couture, paired with the French-blue bordered "Yves S...

Designed by Oscar de la Renta (1932-2014) for his Resort 1975 collection, this deeply draping two-layer empire-waist maxi dress gown is hand-painted on white silk in a blue-and-cream...

Oscar de la Renta (1932-2014) for his S/S 1982 collection created a number of styles of bold vibrant uniquely handpainted crepe-de-chine caftans that helped define his five-decade fa...

Demonstrating the epitome of miniature decorative art by Renaissance European goldsmiths who fashioned quatrefoil and cruciform jewelry with heraldry or religious symbols, this centu...

Distinguishing these couture Christian Dior Spring/Summer 1956 "Western Germany"-stamped silver earrings featuring the first Swarovski gold-foi...

Between the first ad campaign that couturier Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973) commissioned from internationally admired Paris-based multimedia artist Marcel Vertes (1895-1961) for her blockbuster perfume "Shocking" in 1937, and in 1940 when they left France after launching her perfume "Sleeping" shortly before the Nazi occupation during WWII, the illustrator-cum-ceramist distinctly handmade--while traditional materials for couture costume jewelry were scarce in Paris--this whimsical red-glazed ceramic brooch. It depicts a duck holding an umbrella dripped with dashes of turquoise and black glaze to appear wet. Significantly, the trombone clasp of the pin, the long-pronged gilt frame, and the text stamped on its back plate "Made In France" match a similarly sized glazed ceramic brooch of a decoratively chained bear that was published in the book Bijoux (page 146). The author Deanna Farenti Cera dated that likewise unbranded unsigned brooch to 1938 when it was commissioned for one of Schiaparelli's themed fashion shows "Circus". The invitation to that show, which was illustrated with circus characters and performing animals by Vertes' Parisian peer Christian Berard, included a domesticated white duck--notably not holding nor wearing a fashion accessory. Unusually, Schiaparelli had commissioned couture umbrellas from other artisans in the 1930s--a couple of which were acquired by TheMet museum. Another relevant Met acquisition of one of the designer's couture evening gowns, which it dates to Summer 1940, features three large glazed-ceramic fasteners in a contrasting color matching our brooch. The like findings, materials, construction, text, object and palette aside, accessory-adorned ducks were among the figurative animals commissioned by Schiaparelli for that last collection before the Germans dominated Paris by June 1940, which is evidenced by the photo of the dated gilt hatpin depicting a bejeweled bird head with a bill that appears in the book by Patrick Mauries about another Schiaparelli-associated French parurier Lina Baretti (pages 124-125). See our other listing for one of Baretti's uniquely feathered designs, which likewise has a pronged gilt frame with trombone clasp like ours, but whose partridge subject best suits an earlier Schiaparelli collection for Fall 1938 titled "Pagan". For us, distinguishing our brooch from other one-of-a-kind ceramic pieces created for Schiaparelli couture...