Would You Dress Like an Auction House?

“How do you dress like an auction house?” seems like a faux-philosophical question posed by an insufferable “art guy” you might run into at a New York cocktail party. But it’s also a real question that was recently asked by two (very sufferable) individuals: Sotheby’s head of media Kristina O’Neill and Frame co-founder and creative director Erik Torstensson.

O’Neill, formerly the editor-in-chief of WSJ Magazine, joined the 281-year-old institution at the end of 2023. One of her main responsibilities? “To think about how the Sotheby’s brand can connect with the broader cultural conversation,” she tells Vogue. “We’re encouraged to be very creative and out of the box in our thinking.” Brainstorming and “throwing spaghetti at the wall” culminated with the following idea: what if Sotheby’s had their own fashion collection? And if they did, what would that look like?

O’Neill remembered the launch Frame did with the Ritz Paris, where they translated the iconic hotel’s “Ritz Blue” aesthetic into sweaters, sweatshirts, and button downs. She rang up the brand’s founder, Torstensson. Could he do the same for Sotheby’s?

A moodboard was born. Richard Gere. Harrison Ford. The Hamptons. Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities. Oliver Stone’s Wall Street. And on June 5, an official Frame and Sotheby’s collaboration is born too.