Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry collection fetched a whopping, record-breaking $115 million at auction, beating all estimates. The famous 33.19 carat emerald-cut diamond ring she wore sold for $8.8 million. The auction house had projected it would go for $2.5-$3.5 million. When Richard Burton bought it, in 1968, he paid $305,000, then the highest-ever price for a diamond ring. Virtually every piece in the collection sold for many times its estimate. The diamond and ruby necklace featuring the pearl known as “La Peregrina,” shown above at right, which Burton bought for Taylor in 1969, sold for $11,842,500 — its estimate had been a mere $2-$3 million. All 80 lots were sold, and the sale broke seven world records, including highest aggregate price for a personal jewelry collection, highest price for a pearl jewel (La Peregrina), and the highest per-carat price for a colorless diamond. [Forbes]
The ginormous ring is among several pieces of Taylor’s jewelry that have been knocked off in cubic zirconias, which Overstock.com will sell you for $60.29. [Racked]
It seems fitting that the “dressing area” of Agyness Deyn‘s hideously decorated Williamsburg apartment — it could be yours for just $2.5 million! — is twice the size of the “study.” The bathroom, pictured, is where quality Italian marble goes to die. [Curbed]
Rooney Mara is on the cover of January’s Allure. [JJ]
Shala Monroque, the Garage magazine editor and Miuccia’s BFF, scored a cover of Town & Country. She previously appeared on the cover of New York. [TDB]
Here are photos of all the pieces in the new Versace H&M line, which will go on sale online in the new year. But not in the U.S., where H&M’s web site doesn’t support e-commerce. [Vogue UK]
Hunger Games/China Glaze nail polish collaboration: back on. The early images of the colors, which leak appeared to threaten the deal, haven’t been changed — but as Racked notes, the names have been made a lot more generic (“Electrify,” “Harvest Moon”). [Racked]
- Remember last month when, in your post-Thanksgiving food coma haze, you flicked on your television and some overcaffeinated anchorperson with shiny hair was yapping about how it was the spendthriftiest Black Friday weekend ever? Billions were spent by millions of people, both in stores and online for Cyber Monday? Remember when the National Retail Federation put the total take at $52.4 billion, up from $45 billion last year? Well, small correction: Women’s Wear Daily is now reporting that “A U.S. Commerce Department report issued Tuesday, as well as mounting empirical data from a variety of private-sector sources, revealed that November sales were below economists’ expectations.” Considering the month of November as a whole, apparel and accessories sales at specialty stores rose by a slim 0.5%. Department store sales rose just 0.3%. [WWD]
- Joe Jonas is said to be dating a Brazilian model named Jessica Pott. [P6]
- Tim Gunn doesn’t like how Lady Gaga dresses. “She doesn’t wear clothes, she wears costumes! So would I ever put her on a best dressed list or list her among fashion icons? Of course not. She’s remarkably talented and the world’s a better place for having her, but best dressed list? Not in my vocabulary!” [Hollywood Life]
- Hermès has named the head of the new holding company it hopes will save it from Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy’s acquisitional attentions. LVMH snapped up over 20% of Hermès via a series of secretive stock deals. A majority of Hermès is now held by the holding company, where the family-owned (but publicly traded) business hopes they will be safely beyond Bernard Arnault’s grasp. [WWD]
- Jonathan Saunders says he got through his fashion design degree at Central St. Martins with a scholarship that covered his tuition and a job in a printers. For a year, he sneaked back into the office to sleep in a cupboard where he’d installed a mattress. “It was very comfortable: I’ve had worse beds.” [Telegraph]
- Inditex, the parent company of Zara and the largest apparel retail chain in the world, says its net profits for the first three quarters rose by 10% year-on-year, to $1.84 billion, and that sales also rose by 10%. [WWD]
- Avon, which has been under a second SEC investigation regarding its compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, just announced that C.E.O. Andrea Jung will be stepping down. [WWD]
- Michael Kors‘ IPO, scheduled for tomorrow, is so over-subscribed that the investment banks have stopped taking orders. The share price will be between $17-$19. [WWD]
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