DAME EDITH INTERESTA CELADON GREEN SILK AND GILT METAL BROCADE FULL LENGTH EVENING CAPE FIRST HALF 20TH CENTURY Custom made with furnishing fabricW ith stand up collar to shaped and piped and shaped yoke padded welt to shoulder line, pleated detail to back, with interior retaining shoulder straps, with neck and waist hook and eye closing 147cm long Provenance: Dame Edith Sitwell DBE (1887-1964)Exhibited:National Portrait Gallery Exhibition, The Sitwells: 14/10/1994 - 22/01/1995. Literature:V. Glendinning, Edith Sitwell A Unicorn Among Lions, published 1981, page 296'My Clothes and I', Observer, 10/05/1959, page 19Catalogue Note: The present lot was worn by Dame Edith during her photo shoot with George Platt Lynes in 1950. Edith was photographed in various outfits during her session. As with many of Edith's other clothes, the cloak was make out of furnishing fabric and aptly illustrates Stella Bowen's description of Edith being like 'a high altar on the move'. 'I couldn't possibly wear tweeds'. Edith told the Observer. 'It would be like dressing a lion in rabbit's clothes. People would follow me on bicycles if i did, I'd look so extraordinary. Tchelitchew designed 'Plantagenet' dresses for Edith in Paris in the early 1930s, but in later years she either designed her own or went to Madam Astier in the Kings Road, Chelsea. The brocade cloak went with her to America in 1950.

Faded overallFaint bleeding of green from interior silk on yoke onto top area of cloakStain to back pleated area 8cm acrossBleeding through to the frontOdd small marks to frontSome darker shading to the yoke and collar and odd patches to bodyPlease refer to the additional images for visual reference to the condition