Costumes of Whitney Houston, Britney Spears & More Auctioned at Profiles in History, 7/28-31

The countdown to Profiles in History's July auction begins. Run by Joe Maddalena, Profiles in History has announced that costumes from Whitney Houston, Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez will be in attendance. Taking place in Los Angeles, The Dreier Collection will be auctioned off on July 28th, the Animation Auction will be July 29th and the Treasures from the Hollywood Vaults auction has been moved to July 30th and July 31st.

From Whitney Houston, her screen-used “Rachel Marron” “Queen of the Night” costume from The Bodyguard, pictured left. Costume designer Susan Nininger penned the original design for this incredible “Queen of the Night” costume. Inspired by Maria, the Maschinenmensch (machine-human), in the 1927 Fritz Lang classic Metropolis, the Art Deco costume consists of a chromed thermal formed chest plate, a stylized corset with chrome and aluminum accents, a metallic gray undersuit with attached garter straps detailed with metal studs, silver lamé crepe skirt, pair of aluminum arm cuffs with chrome ball detailing, broad Egyptian-style collar festooned with chrome balls, a waist belt with attached strings of hanging chrome beads, a pair of gray over-the-knee high heel boots accented with metal diamond-shaped studs running down the sides of the legs and gray opera-length gloves with both metal and hematite beading. In the film there is a “Queen of the Night” music video playing on the back screen of the stage while Whitney is performing her number. Whitney also wore this costume when Kevin Costner’s character holds her (sans chest armor) in his arms following the stage incident—the very image used for The Bodyguard movie poster. One cannot find a better costume worn by Whitney Houston—one of the greatest musical performers of all time—at the peak of her storied career. Comes with a letter of authenticity from Chris Gillman. It is pictured above and expected to fetch $20,000 – $30,000.

Whitney Houston custom Fabrice Simon sequined gown worn at the 1988 Grammy Awards. This gorgeous sequined gown was designed by Fabrice Simon expressly for Whitney Houston to wear at the 30th Grammy Awards held on March 2, 1988. The black gown features sequined spaghetti straps with a floral motif bust line with related floral patterns throughout. At this ceremony Whitney won Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).” Whitney donated this gown for an AIDS Charity in 1992 and it is accompanied by a large 8 in. x 12 in. signed color photograph of Whitney wearing the gown holding her Grammy Award. On the surrounding photographer’s mat, Whitney has inscribed in silver ink, “Peace Help fight Aids Whitney” and has drawn a happy face to the right of her signature. Accompanied by the original “Sunday By the Bay” auction catalog (held July 12, 1992) featuring the Whitney evening gown as lot “L5A” as well as the original Federal Express airbill from “Nippy, Inc.” (Houston’s Production Company) sending the gown and signed photo to the charity. A fantastic gown, with exceptional provenance, worn early in Houston’s career for her second Grammy win. It is expected to fetch $3,000 – $5,000. Both of these Whitney Houston costumes are a part of the Tresasures from the Hollywood Vaults.

Also from the Hollywood Vaults, Britney Spears stage-worn sequined catsuit from her “Oops!...I Did It Again” performance at the 2000 Grammy Awards. This ornate, custom-made sequined catsuit was worn by pop star Britney Spears at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000 while performing her iconic hit “Oops!...I Did It Again.” The red catsuit is literally covered with sequins and exhibits tailoredlateral “hourglass” cut-outs at the midriff to accentuate her physique. Britney wore this costume during the dress rehearsal as well as her main performance at the Grammy’s on February 23, 2000. The iconic costume was personally donated by Britney Spears for The Britney Spears Foundation and is accompanied with a signed letter of authenticity by Spears. This is an incredible stage-worn costume worn during Britney’s meteoric rise to fame. It is expected to fetch $8,000 – $12,000.

From The Dreier Collection, Britney Spears' screen-used Circus music video dance costume, pictured above. In the music video for her 6th studio album, “Circus”, pop-princess Britney Spears wears this exceptional ensemble as she dances and sings her way through the entire big-top themed performance of the title track. This sleek signature costume includes vintage, black sequined dance shorts, a Vivienne Westwood white satin corset, vintage black Berman’s studio dance tuxedo tailcoat, an additional pair of black dance shorts (not used in the production), and a vintage top hat. This costume is highly visible throughout the video and in excellent condition. It is expected to fetch $6,000 – $8,000.

Jennifer Lopez's "Dr. Catherine Dean" signature costume by Eiko Ishioka from The Cell. Jennifer Lopez plays “Catherine Dean”, an experimental psychotherapist enlisted by the FBI to track down a killer by entering his thoughts. This is a signature costume worn by Jennifer Lopez in some of the movie’s most surrealistic scenes. Designed by the late, Academy Award winner Eiko Ishioka, consisting of a long, sheer, black lace dress, accessorized with metal-flake crimson, anatomical collar with velcro closure and metal hoop in back of neck. Also included a wraparound metalized resin facemask with hooped, braided chain veil. A long black and maroon accented wig completes this stylish collection. This costume is a part of the Hollywood Vaults, is pictured below and is expected to fetch $3,000 – $5,000.

Founded in 1985 by Joseph Maddalena, Profiles in History is the nation's leading dealer in guaranteed-authentic original historical autographs, letters, documents, vintage signed photographs and manuscripts. Born into a family of antiques dealers in Rhode Island, Joseph "Joe" Maddalena learned early on how to turn his passion of collecting historical autographs into a career. Needing to support himself, Joe turned to his hobby of buying and selling historical documents as a potential way to earn revenue. On weekends he scoured old Hollywood bookstores for letters and rare books. Upon graduation from Pepperdine, Joe pursued his passion to become a full-time dealer of historical documents, and opened his first office in 1985. A lifetime member of the Manuscript Society, Joe is widely recognized as the nation's leading authority on entertainment memorabilia and historical documents. Profiles in History has established itself as the world’s largest auctioneer of original Hollywood memorabilia, having held some of the most prestigious and successful auctions of Hollywood memorabilia and owning virtually every Guinness Book record prices for original screen-used memorabilia. With an extensive network of dealers, collectors, and institutions, Profiles in History is proud to play an important role in the preservation of motion picture history.

Prior Profiles in History Hollywood auctions highlights include the "Cowardly Lion" costume from The Wizard of Oz ($805,000); Steve McQueen's "Michael Delaney" racing suit from Le Mans ($960,000); a Panavision motion picture camera used by George Lucas to film Star Wars ($624,000); a full-scale model T-800 Endoskeleton from Terminator 2: Judgment Day ($488,750); Marilyn Monroe's platinum & diamond wedding band from her marriage to Joe DiMaggio ($504,000); Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds” dress from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ($356,500); a King Kong 1933 six-sheet movie poster ($345,000); Luke Skywalker’s light saber from Star Wars ($240,000); Margaret Hamilton’s “Wicked Witch” hat from The Wizard Of Oz ($230,000); and The Invisible Man 1933 one-sheet movie poster ($230,000). From the history-making Debbie Reynolds Auction in June 2011, Profiles in History sold the Marilyn Monroe "Subway" Dress from The Seven Year Itch for $5.52M, the Marilyn Monroe signature red-sequined showgirl gown from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for $1.44M and the Audrey Hepburn Ascot Dress from My Fair Lady for $4.44M. In February 2012, Profiles in History arranged the sale of a pair of Judy Garland screen-used Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. In addition, Joe Maddalena is the star of Hollywood Treasure, which just ended its second season on Syfy. Hollywood Treasure takes viewers into the fascinating world of showbiz and pop culture memorabilia.

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