High-end fashion gets auctioned

Fashion Houses are upset with upcoming fashion auctions that are put on without the designer's prior approval - or even knowledge. Next week, Gianni Versace dresses go up for sale with a model in the sale room catwalking each of the 238 items. Yet the house of Versace only discovered the sale was happening when the "Special Gianni Versace" catalogue came out 10 days ago from the Rossini auction house in Paris.

"It sounds like we are collaborating - we might have to take a legal stance," said Isabella Claverino, speaking for Versace, to the Herald Tribune. Versace said they had no involvement in the verification of the pieces or the way that they are presented in the catalogue on less-than-top models.

The Versace "collection" comes from an Athens-based franchisee who worked with Versace for 15 years, selling the disparate labels from Atelier Versace through "Istante," according to Cecile Simon, Rossini's auctioneer. She says that she believes the estimated prices, mostly around 300- 500 are "reasonable" and will not go much higher at the sale, which takes place on Nov. 29 and 30.

Although the auction house specializes in textiles, jewelry and art, Simon describes this eclectic (read any old thing) collection as "for the general public - people who like fashion."