Leather cape worn by Elizabeth Taylor to be auctioned
A gold leather cape worn by the late UK-born actress Elizabeth Taylor in two major scenes from the 1963 film Cleopatra is to go up for auction. Bidding for the intricate garment, made from leather and gold, is set to start at $10,000 when it goes under the hammer at Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auctions on 30 May, 2012.
Industry insiders have predicted bidding could go far that, reaching into the hundreds of thousands. The costume, designed to look like the wings of a phoenix, is intricately designed using thin strips of gold leather and embellished with thousands of seed beads, bugle beads and bead-anchored sequins.
Taylor wore the gold cape in two pivotal scenes of the Hollywood blockbuster. Firstly, for the portrayal of Cleopatra’s entrance to Rome and, second, in the final scenes of the film where she apparently commits suicide using the venom from a snake bite.
“Taylor was featured in countless newspaper and magazine articles wearing this cape,” said Margaret Barrett, director of entertainment and music auctions at Heritage. “Most famously on the cover of the October 6, 1961 issue of Life. While the $194,800 budget for Taylor's costumes was the highest ever for a single actor at the time, the film’s costume designer, Irene Sharaff, made good use of it, winning an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Color, for her work.”
