How You Can Score Greta Garbo’s Dresses, Bags and Jewels

Stylewatch Style News Now

10/15/2012 at 06:30 PM ET

Courtesy Julien’s Auctions

Fans of Old Hollywood glamour, take note: on Dec. 14 and 15, Julien’s Auctions and the estate of Greta Garbo will auction more than 800 of the screen legend’s personal items (some never before seen), including clothes, accessories and handbags. And let us tell you, Garbo had quite the wardrobe: the auction will include items designed by Emilio Pucci, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo and Hubert Givenchy, among others.

While the Oscar-winning beauty is best known for her work in films like Anna Karenina and Grand Hotel, off screen she had a distinctive and inimitable personal style.

“She was so far ahead of her time in terms of her style and what she wore, breaking the pants barrier, [wearing] comfortable clothing that you could really move in,” her great-nephew Derek Reisfield tells PEOPLE. “I think there are a lot of examples of that in the auction.” The small details in her garments are incredible, too. “When you start looking at the clothing, there’s always some little thing that’s exceptional, whether it’s fabric, color, stitch or cut,” Reisfield, who produced an award-winning documentary about his great-aunt, adds.

The star knew what she wanted in her clothes and was not afraid to ask for it, whether it meant negotiating heel height with Salvatore Ferragamo (the designer wrote in his biography that Garbo was the only client to oppose his ideas), or cheekily telling Emilio Pucci that he must “hate women” for finishing his shirts with white buttons. (After Garbo’s playful jab, Pucci began using colored buttons to match a shirt’s hue.)

Garbo also maintained a decades-long friendship with one of America’s first celebrity designers, Valentina Schlee. According to Reisfield, the upcoming auction features “probably the largest group of Valentina articles to come on an auction market ever.”

Courtesy Julien’s Auctions

Special finds include a turquoise Valentina dress (above), made just for the star. “She absolutely loved the color of this dress,” Reisfield says. A gold I.D. bracelet, which Garbo wore as a child, “had a sentimental attachment for her,” Reisfield shares. And her Hermès travel bag “was her favorite weekend bag,” he adds. It’s in excellent condition, too. “[She] was very meticulous. She was very careful with her stuff.” Portraits, like the one seen above, will be up for auction, as well.

For more information, visit juliensauctions.com/auctions. Tell us: Are you interested in Garbo’s personal effects? Will you bid in the auction?  

–Shakthi Jothianandan