Following the news that Sarah Burton, the creative director of the Alexander McQueen brand, would be donating hundreds of metres of old fabric from the fashion house to design students across the country, it has now been announced that a number of key McQueen archival pieces will be put up for auction.

Coming from some of his most infamous collections, including the AW94 ‘Banshee’ and ‘Dante’ AW96 presentations, the items are being sold on the behalf of the former head of the McQueen studio and friend of the late designer, Ruti Danan. With Danan conserving the pieces for years, most of the 72 items shared with the Boston-based RR Auction have hardly been worn.

“It’s a world-class private collection of rare and one-of-a-kind early Alexander McQueen items,” said Bobby Livingston, Executive Vice President at RR Auction. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own such a unique portion of fashion history.”

An extremely rare piece comes in the form of a Military Matador Coat from 1996, estimated at $150,000. Once photographed by Nick Knight and styled by Katy England for the Spring 2015 issue of AnOther, only three of the jackets were made, with one sold at Liberty, and the other owned by Isabella Blow. Other items include a nude silk mesh top detailed with thorns from ‘The Hunger’ SS96 collection estimated at $5,000 and a pair of lace-up open toe leather shoes from the controversial ‘Highland Rape’ AW95 offering going for $5,000. 

With the rest of the collection comprising other key clothing items, there are also show invitations, backstage passes, and a photo album made up of 88 behind the scenes photos from McQueen shows. 

Explaining she wanted to take these pieces to a global stage after they were given to her during her time working for McQueen from 1994 to 1996, Danan has since kept them in storage so they could become a preserved part of fashion history. But with a total value of $1,334,000, we hope some of this money will be going to the Sarabande Foundation, the artistic charity established by McQueen in 2007. 

The Alexander McQueen Archive of Ruti Danan from RR Auction will conclude on February 22.