Catherine Deneuve Fetches $1 Million for Saint Laurent Gowns

PARIS, France — A beaded dress worn by Catherine Deneuve when she first met Alfred Hitchcock in 1969 were among dozens of her glamorous gowns sold at an auction in Paris on Thursday.

The French actress parted with close to 130 one-of-a-kind styles crafted for her by close friend Yves Saint Laurent. They included a shimmering gold number worn by Deneuve to the Oscars.

The auction raised 900,625 euros ($1.02 million), according to auction house Christies.

“Catherine Deneuve is a very beautiful actress. She was always very, very well dressed by Saint Laurent, [so] it was an unexpected opportunity to see all the dresses, and possibly even buy one, if I [could] find the right size,” Isabelle Lugagne, a 76-year-old, retired graphologist told Reuters.

The ‘Belle de Jour’ actress, a fashion fan often spotted at Parisian catwalk shows, put the dresses up for sale after parting with a house in Normandy, northern France, where she had stored them for decades.

Deneuve, 75, has not said what the funds will be used for.

Saint Laurent — one of the 20th centuries’ most influential designers, who popularized tuxedos for women, or “Le Smoking” — met the actress was she only 22. He died in 2008.

Aside from the lot of 130 haute couture looks, a further 170 items are on sale in an online auction running until Jan 30.

By Jeevan Ravindran and John Irish; editor: Andrew Heavens