The Extravagant Personal Collection of Jackie Kennedy's Late Sister Lee Radziwill Is Up for Auction
The collection of Lee Radziwill — iconic American socialite known for her style sense and the younger sister of former First Lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis — is going up for auction at Christie’s this fall.
Radziwill, who worked as an interior designer and as a PR executive for Giorgio Armani during her wide-ranging career, curated an impressive collection throughout her storied life.
Items to go up for sale include jewelry, fine art and photography from her homes in both New York and Paris, offered as part of Christie’s Collector Week sales in New York in October, the British auction house said in its announcement of the sale.
The “contents of the collection offer a glimpse into her fascinating life, spanning her years as a prominent socialite, princess, designer, and witness to a momentous era in American history,” Christie’s said.
Her style has been described as having “defined dynamic American style for decades,” and having helped her older sister Jackie become a style icon in her own right.
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“I have an absurd kind of extravagance,” Radziwill told PEOPLE in an old interview. “If I see an orchid that’s fantastically expensive, I’ll buy it. It’s worth it, for no other reason than it gives me pleasure.”
The socialite once said that “When I buy something, I intend to keep it forever,” according to Christie’s.
RELATED: Carole Radziwill Mourns Death of Mother-in-Law Lee, Jackie Kennedy’s Sister: ‘She Was Loved’
“I abhor the American idea of starting with a tabula rasa every few years and getting rid of everything,” she said of her design philosophy.
“I’m constantly falling in love with objects, and they follow me around the world.”
“Lee’s taste and style stands alone as a global symbol of sophistication and connoisseurship,” Marc Porter, Christie’s chairman, said. He added that Radziwill embodied “the elegance of a more glamorous era.”
Radziwill died in February at age 85 of natural causes at her home in Manhattan, New York.
