—by Glynis Traill-Nash
Fuelled by a belief in the cultural and social power of museums, Melbourne philanthropist Krystyna Campbell-Pretty AM stands among a select few global power players in the competitive world of vintage couture collecting.
Krystyna Campbell-Pretty Fashion Gift exhibition
(2019), NGV International. Image: Tom Ross.
June was a busy month for Krystyna Campbell-Pretty. The Melbourne-based philanthropist was in London and Paris, sourcing items for the National Gallery of Victoria’s fashion and textiles collection. She had a sneak peek at a private collection of pieces belonging to late British designer Vivienne Westwood prior to it going to auction at Christie’s, then headed to Paris to view some vintage Christian Dior pieces before they went under the gavel. “I bought 31 pieces,” Campbell-Pretty tells The Luxury Report. “It was a very expensive month. But what do you do when Vivienne Westwood’s own personal wardrobe is being auctioned? Wait for another day?”
Waiting is not in Campbell-Pretty’s DNA. Since starting her collecting journey in 2015, with the acquisition of the Dominique Sirop collection of haute couture—an assemblage of 130 vintage and historic pieces dating from 1800 to 2003 that was acquired by the NGV for $1.4m with her support—she has purchased and gifted hundreds more. With garments by the likes of Chanel, Givenchy, Christian Dior, Lanvin and Patou among her contributions to the permanent collection, as well as an archival fashion research library, Campbell-Pretty’s generosity has helped put the Melbourne institution on the map for its ever-evolving fashion offer.
For haute couture enthusiasts, Campbell-Pretty’s urge to collect on behalf of the gallery brings some of the world’s most talked-about garments to Melbourne’s door. At the recent Westwood auction, Campbell-Pretty says she bought several “very good pieces” including a taupe taffeta offthe- shoulder corset gown worn by the designer to a gala held in her honour at the London’s Victoria & Albert Museum in 1998. According to public record, the gown (part of Westwood’s A/W 1998-99 collection) sold for £33,000 against an estimate of between £5000- 8000, with proceeds going to charity.
Grés evening dress (1985) featured in the 2019 exhibition. Image: Tom Ross.
Alix dresses (1934-42) by Madame Grés form
part of the NGV’s Fashion and Textiles collection.
At the Dior auction, meanwhile, rather than go all-in on “one absolutely spectacular” embroidered dress that Campbell-Pretty knew was on the wishlist of the fashion house itself, she ended up buying six pieces. “We [the NGV team and I] had a lot of meetings beforehand about what we wanted to go for, and I picked my marks,” she explains. “[The embroidered dress] was just amazing but it was going to go very, very high. And I said, ‘look, if we go for that, that’s it, but if we go for other things we can get five or six pieces’.”
She was also keen to round out the NGV’s collection with what she describes as “beautiful, fine daywear”, a category she says is often overlooked by collectors. In the end, the strategy was a success; “We got at least four good dress-jacket-coat combinations, and the rest were nice evening dresses, just to add to the balance.”
The enigmatic and impeccably attired collector first started her philanthropic work with the NGV alongside her late husband Harold Campbell-Pretty, setting up the gallery’s school support program, which facilitates free gallery access for underprivileged children and schools from regional and remote areas. When Harold passed away in 2014, she donated the Sirop collection to the NGV in his memory.
Campbell-Pretty dazzles in gold lamé Caroline Herrera A-line midi dress. Image: Daniel Mahon.
While Campbell-Pretty—whose career spanned social work, market research and management consulting— has always loved fashion, it is not just the aesthetics that appeal when it comes to collecting pieces for the gallery. “Mostly [with fashion] we’re talking about women and we’re talking about how women lived—what they did, how they existed, what their lives were like,” she explains. “We’re also talking about beauty because fashion is beauty; art and art history are all about beauty. For me, ultimately, it’s about history.”
“[Museums] increasingly represent the way we live today.”
Her passion for making museums and galleries more accessible stems from this deep love of history. “I believe in the importance of museums as a place that everyone can share.” she says.
She fervently believes that fashion belongs in museums, not just from an artistic and historical perspective but as a social record and for the benefit of the institutions. This is reflected in the exponential rise in popularity of fashion exhibitions ever since the blockbuster Alexander McQueen exhibition Savage Beauty debuted at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2011.
“The trend in museums these days is if you haven’t got fashion, you’re not going to be appealing to the younger audiences,” Campbell-Pretty explains. “You must do it to keep refreshing your customer base.” She cites the example of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, widely known for its fashion exhibitions; “Because they do so much fashion their customer base is hugely skewed to the under-40s, even under-30s. [Fashion] just brings a dynamic that the museum otherwise wouldn’t have.” She continues: “I believe in the importance of museums. I don’t think they’re old and dusty places, quite the opposite. They’re dynamic, they’re fresh, and they increasingly represent the way we live today.”
In her near-decade of acquiring pieces for the NGV—she occasionally purchases for other institutions, outside the fashion realm—Campbell-Pretty has honed her talent for the hunt. Along with close discussions with the curators at the gallery, she is on speed dial with the world’s top auctioneers for fashion, including Kerry Taylor in London, who keeps her across what will soon become available. Competition can be fierce between the mere handful of buyers in this milieu. One is the owner of a private fashion museum in Chile, then there are other museums and galleries from across the globe that tend to pop up “when they have money”, as well as the luxury fashion houses, which she says come and go when they want to buy back pieces for their archives.
“There are a few other private collectors and [those] who buy for the stars to wear on red carpets, but they will usually buy isolated pieces, they don’t buy in a cohesive way,” she explains. Diego Della Valle, the billionaire Italian owner of Tod’s and Schiaparelli, is often in the mix, but Campbell-Pretty says he has stepped back a little of late. “In fact, I bought a wonderful, very simple little Schiaparelli day dress late last year and he wasn’t [present at the auction], so I got it cheaply, which was good. He usually pushes the price; he has unlimited budget.”
While Campbell-Pretty adores fashion, the spoils of her collecting pursuits are largely for the benefit and enjoyment of others. She recalls a recent dinner in Brisbane with Dutch couturier Iris Van Herpen, whose Sculpting the Senses exhibition was staged at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art this year. “[Van Herpen] asked: ‘Do you collect yourself?’ And I replied: ‘No—then I’d need to have a curator and someone to look after it all’,” she recalls matter-of-factly. “I’ve never felt comfortable with the idea of having stuff in a wardrobe somewhere or hived away in a warehouse. I buy the pieces and then I get to visit them. These creations need to be in a museum so everyone can access them.”
Aluminium Paco Rabanne mini dress (1967),
part of the NGV’s permanent collection.
An exhibit of 1920s-era couture embroidery from the Campbell-Pretty Fashion Research Collection is on display at the NGV International until 30 November.