The Guardian
Wednesday 24 July 2019 9
I was in San Francisco at one of my favourite vintage
stores and the owner said: “I have something in the
back that you might be interested in, but it’s kind of
pricey.” When he brought out this Christian Dior New
Look suit, I tried to appear cool – but I had never seen
anything like it, except in museums.
The clothes that were made in Paris under Mr Dior
have the Christian Dior Paris label in them and a red
serial number, which this has, so it is a bit of a holy
grail vintage item – they are hard to fi nd. There are
garters attached to the blouse, which then attach to
your stockings. It holds your stockings up and also
pulls the blouse down, so it doesn’t bunch up – there
is some incredible engineering
inside this suit.
Afterwards, I got an email from
someone that said: “How dare you
– that suit was for me! I had it on hold!”
But I was like : maybe you should have
bought it when it was there – that is
the number one rule of vintage.
I am very careful about how this
suit is kept. When you are a collector of vintage clothes,
moths are the enemy. I check on it all the time to make
sure that nothing has eaten it. It lives in an archival box
to protect it, but I do wear it. I love it.
One of the things I like about 50s clothes is that
they are so fl attering and easy to wear. I love wearing
a big skirt where your hips feel free.
I originally started dressing in vintage because,
when I was in high school, I couldn’t aff ord the
designer jeans that my friends had. I discovered
vintage and would try on clothes that reminded me of
things I saw in magazines. I wore lingerie as outerwear,
little bustiers, and tried to throw together a look that
wasn’t reliant on having money.
This was in the 90s, when vintage clothes weren’t
quite as valuable as they are now. I have things in
my wardrobe that I bought at that time that I still
love wearing. If you choose vintage right, it can last
a long time.
As told to Leah HarperThe look I love
Dita Von Teese ‘I check on
this suit all the time to make
sure moths haven’t eaten it’
PHOTOGRAPHS: JULIEN’S AUCTIONS; ALLSTAR/CINETEXT/PARAMOUNT;
PICTURELUX / THE HOLLYWOOD ARCHIVE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
It is a holy grail
vintage item with
some incredible
engineering
from last year’s cancer-induced
fractured pelvis. The remainder of
the funds she may donate elsewhere
and a portion she will keep, as, she
says: “It’s my career. ”
Some signifi cant items are
missing from the auction, thanks
to Newton-John’s past generous
donations to other peoples’ sales.
“That’s how I lost my red shoes from
the movie [also worn in You’re the
One That I Want] years ago,” she
says. Others have been preserved in
her archive out of luck; for example,
the pink ladies jacket she wore on
tour until her publicist caught her
throwing it across the stage and,
aghast, stopped her. She has kept it
at home ever since.
Newton-John is keeping certain
items “that have personal meaning
to me”, she says, citing jewellery and
items from her late parents or sister- as well as her four Grammy awards,
“because they are the height of my
success and the most important one I
can receive for singing and the music,
so I can give them to my daughter”.
The auction is likely to break
records, but Newton-John remains
self-eff acing – and eerily similar to
her on-screen character of Sandy.
She keeps her multiple awards,
from Billboards to People’s Choice,
in storage , as “it would be funny to
have them all over the house”, and
doesn’t watch herself on screen.
Yet she remains proud of a career
that has seen her rock’n’roll with
Travolta, jam with Stevie Wonder in
an LA club, skit with Wonder Woman
and tap dance with Gene Kelly in the
1980 musical fantasy Xanadu.
“It was incredible to dance with
Gene Kelly and John Travolta in
one lifetime ... I did the original
Dancing with the Stars!” she laughs.
“I feel lucky.”
Other Grease items in the sale
will be less well known. A pair of
nondescript tan leather dance
shoes with a small heel (estimated
to fetch $2,000) turn out to be
Newton-John’s rehearsal shoes for
the Grease dance numbers (“so that
I was used to the heel,” she says).
Most rehearsals were for the dance
in the gym as, she recalls, “that was
probably the one with the most
choreography to be worked out.
And then they had to be changed
[from rehearsals on the studio lot]
when we got on set because cameras
changed and the room was diff erent
... but I got to bop with John and do
things I had never done before.”
The pink lace gown and matching
stole that she wore to the LA
premiere of Grease is expected to
get $8,000. She still remembers the
energy emanating from the crowd
when she and Travolta stepped out
of their car. “ I remember thinking :
‘Wow! How do all these people even
know about this fi lm?’”
The auction is, more than
anything, a celebration of Newton-
John’s 55-year career. Born in the UK
in 1948, she moved to Australia with
her family when she was fi ve. By the
time she was 15, Newton-John was
on TV in a girl band. But her career
took off in the 1970s, when she came
back to Britain with hits including
Take Me Home, Country Roads. In
1974, she was Britain’s entrant to
the Eurovision song contest with
Long Live Love – and came fourth.
The winners that year were a then
unknown four-piece Swedish pop
group called Abba. The album of the
same name propelled Newton-John
into the US, with I Honestly Love
You becoming her fi rst No 1 there
and earning her two Grammys.
She has since sold an estimated
100m records worldwide, a
trajectory that is sartorially
documented in the auction.
A pair of white and gold lamé
shorts and matching top, which
she wore to promote her Physical
album in 1981, are up for $4,000
and a beaded blue chiff on minidress
she wore for her fi rst world tour,
Totally Hot, in 1978 is estimated to
reach $2,000.
There will be some personal
items, too, including the wedding
dresses from her marriages to Matt
Lattanzi in 1984 and John Easterling
in 2008, which she is philosophical
about letting go of. “I wouldn’t
wear them again,” she says. “These
things are in pictures, so I have a
wonderful memory of them and
that’s what it’s about. They’ve been
hanging in a closet [in a Los Angeles
storage facility] so it’s much better if
someone is enjoying them and that
the money goes to benefi t something
that I care about.”
Much of the proceeds from the
sale will go to the Olivia Newton-
John Cancer Wellness & Research
Centre in Melbourne, established in- Set within the Austin Health
hospital campus, the centre off ers
holistic and traditional treatments ,
as well as education, training and
research, and is running more than
200 clinical trials. Newton-John has
been diagnosed with her third bout of
breast cancer, which has spread to her
lower back, and she is still recovering
I don’t think
anyone knew
it was me at
fi rst as all the
heads turned. I
thought, ’Wow!’
I don’t th
anyone k
it was m
fi rst as a
heads tu
thought
Shorts and
matching top
(above), worn to
promote the 1981
Physical albumThe gown worn
to the 1978 LA
premiere of
Grease (below)
are expected to
make $8,000РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS