French socialite and entrepreneur Mouna Ayoub, often regarded as one of the greatest shoppers, made headlines last November when she sold 252 items of Chanel haute couture by Karl Lagerfeld in Paris. Mouna's Chanel couture sale fetched €1.5 million.
Now, she is back, preparing to sell 41 Jean Paul Gaultier couture outfits from her personal collection at a Maurice Auction sale in Paris on 25 November. Titled Jean Paul Gaultier: The Haute Couture Years - The Mouna Ayoub Collection, the sale features designs showcasing Gaultier’s signature themes. Why has Ayoub been parting with pieces from her renowned wardrobe? “There are three main reasons: firstly, I no longer fit into many of the pieces; secondly, I’m out of space; and lastly, I’ve worn most of the long gowns on the red carpet, so they can’t really be worn a second time,” she explained in an interview with Emily Phillips for 10 Magazine.
One of the standout pieces in the sale is the khaki taffeta bomber and trompe-l'oeil tartan-embroidered kilt from the Élégance Parisienne collection, Autumn-Winter 1998-1999. According to details published on Maurice Auction’s website: “At first glance, this appears to be an ‘ordinary’ kilt and jacket. It is only upon close inspection that the supposedly woven wool kilt is revealed to be breathtakingly complex Maison Lesage embroidered beadwork.
Weighing more than 10kg, it features beaded fringes and beautifully concealed closures, with the beaded plaid pattern per.