LONDON — It was the sale of her countryside château in Normandy that prompted Catherine Deneuve to let go of her Saint Laurent wardrobe — a varied collection filled with treasures from the Sixties up to the early 2000s and telling the story of a 40-year-old friendship with the late Yves Saint Laurent.
“It’s this big country house with a beautiful garden, because Catherine loves flowers and gardening. She was upset to be selling it, but it got a little too heavy for her, so she had to make the decision to let it go and sell her Saint Laurent wardrobe with it,” said Francois de Ricqlès, president at Christie’s Paris and a friend of Deneuve’s.
De Ricqlès described the château’s vast attic to be filled with the French movie star’s archival Saint Laurent pieces. “She is above a certain age and she found that it would be more joyful to use this time, rather than a sale after death, so she decided to do it herself.”
It’s a big moment for Christie’s, too, which rarely organizes fashion auctions anymore unless there is a certain element of rarity in a collection.
“We would only organize fashion sales if we have [access to] a very

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HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: For many, reading about museum exhibitions is inevitably easier than actually trekking out to see them. Next month the Museum at FIT will unveil what amounts to a recap of some of its shows from the past half-century.
In honor of the museum’s silver anniversary, “Exhibitionism: 50 Years of The Museum at FIT” will spotlight 33 of its greatest hits, so to speak, drawing from its permanent collection. While FIT’s Couture Council may be well-versed about “Shoe Obsession,” “Daphne Guinness,” “A Queer History of Fashion,” “Fairy Tale Fashion,” “Black Fashion Designers,” “American Beauty,” and some of the other shows that are represented in the retrospective, less-informed museum goers can get a crash course of sorts. The museum’s director and chief curator Valerie Steele and curator of costume and accessories Colleen Hill had a lot of pieces to cull through again and again.
Originally known as the Design Laboratory and Galleries at FIT, the two-floor location at Seventh Avenue and 27th Street was renamed The Museum at FIT in 1994. The American Alliance of Museums accredited it in 2012. In 1971, after MGM executives heard that the museum’s first director Robert Riley pulled together a show that featured designs by Gilbert

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PARIS — Rihanna is getting ready for her next act in fashion, and with the world’s largest luxury group as her partner, WWD has learned.
According to multiple sources, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and the music sensation have been in secret discussions to launch a luxury house under her name. That would make it the first fashion brand industry titan Bernard Arnault has launched from scratch since Christian Lacroix in 1987.
LVMH has already handpicked a clutch of employees from within, including some from Louis Vuitton and Celine, to work on the project in tandem with Rihanna and some of her key associates, sources said.
Details about the launch and its timing could not immediately be learned. LVMH officials declined comment Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Internet lit up with speculation about the origins of the bold, gold shades Rihanna wore while stepping out in Manhattan — her Fenty brand name spelled out across the temples. Sources said the music star was simply test-driving a prototype, while dropping a colossal tease about her next major foray beyond music.

Rihanna has demonstrated a serious interest in, and influence on, fashion — along with formidable design chops and acute instincts — with her recent tenure as the

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