Cilla Black’s children have donated more than 260 lots of her clothes, accessories and shoes to a children’s charity.
In partnership with Nesbits Auctions, her possessions will be auctioned off, with 100% of the proceeds going to Variety Children’s Charity.
Cilla maintained a close relationship with Variety throughout her career, and now, ten years after her passing, the auction will celebrate her renowned legacy in showbusiness, and her ties to helping others.
Variety Children’s Charity has been providing loving and practical support for disabled and disadvantaged children across the UK for 75 years.
Many of the iconic outfits up for auction were made, bespoke, for Cilla and were worn on stage or appeared on her TV shows.
Some of the items were made by couture houses such as Yves Saint Laurent, Armani, Issey Miyake, Jean Muir and many more iconic brands that are imperative to British fashion.
Laurence Guinness, Chief Executive of Varity said: “She was a big supporter of Variety, a huge fan of our work.
“She recognised the fact that whatever decades we’ve been through, disabled children have always had a hard time, and disabled children from low-income families have an even harder time of it.
“After the tragic events of Cilla’s passing, her children preserved all her clothing. They put it all in storage because it was too good.
“Cilla loved her clothes; she loved her fashion. She had an iconic look, and they catalogued her wardrobe, which was an incredible testament to her style and fashion sense.”
Variety has four different schemes, the first being the Sunshine Bus, which provides schools and non-profit organisations with fully adapted and accessible buses.
The second provides grants for wheelchairs and special equipment for children and can be used to create bespoke and fully adapted equipment or furniture if there is not a product on the market which can cater to their needs.
The third scheme provides trips and experiences, while the fourth is the ‘access to interns’ programme.
Variety, along with companies that want to take an intern who has mild disabilities, provides supported internship programmes for young people aged 16 to 18 plus.
The programme aims to help people with mild disabilities who can often find it difficult to become integrated into the workplace.
The proceeds from the auction will go directly into funding some of these schemes, and Laurence expressed his hope in being able to buy a permanent Sunshine Bus for one of their schools.
He continued: “Robert Willis, her son, got in touch with Variety and said, we’d like to donate the entire collection to Variety, and we just hope that it will be loved and enjoyed by the people who loved and enjoyed our mother, who appreciated her in all her stages of her incredible career.
“So, we of course said we would be honoured to take all the incredible Cilla Black collection and auction it, which will directly translate to an incredible benefit for children up and down the country, and particularly in the Northwest where Cilla was from, and famously connected to throughout her life.
“Anyone thinking of buying one of these iconic dresses, shoes, belts and accessories, from the collection should be really, really delighted that 100% of the money from their purchase will go directly towards helping almost vulnerable children.”
Hosted by Nesbits Auctions, the sale begins on the 28th of November at 1pm BST, available here.
Featured image: Chloe Gleeson
