You, Too, Can Buy Margaret Thatcher’s Power Suits

Ever been curious as to what it would’ve been like to wear the royal blue power suit of one of the 20th century’s foremost leaders? To decorate your mantel with porcelain figurines that had witnessed history, or clutch the clutch of one of the once-most powerful women in the world? Well, morbid weirdoes, you’re in luck: On Tuesday, just in time for the start of the Christmas shopping season, Christie’s announced it will be auctioning off 350 pieces of late Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s clothes, jewelry, notes, and knickknacks. And while you won’t be walking away with ol’ Iron Knickers’ knickers, you can score everything but.

The collection, being sold by Thatcher’s family, is being auctioned off in two lots. There will be a live auction on Dec. 15 to sell 150 pieces; the other 200 will be sold in an online-only auction starting Dec. 3 and ending Dec. 16. The total assemblage is valued at more than $750,000. The sale includes outfits she wore at pivotal moments as Britain’s prime minister, artifacts such as her bright red dispatch box, and selections from her collection of antique plates and porcelain figurines.

“Mrs. Thatcher’s style was brilliant colors, sharp outlines, meaning business,” Meredith Etherington-Smith, the creative director for the sale, said in a video about the collection that is posted on Christie’s website. The video also includes tearful remembrances from Cynthia Crawford, Thatcher’s assistant for 36 years. “These were in the dining room and your father always insisted on having them out for dinner parties,” she told Thatcher’s daughter Carol, pointing to a set of porcelain figures of British military men. (We learn that Maggie loved buttons — a trait she inherited from her mother, a dressmaker.)

“She was in charge and she was in a tank, and I don’t think you can get better than that, quite frankly,” said Etherington-Smith.

But impressive as the collection of power suits and handbags may be, it has also been the subject of a very polite controversy. On Monday, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum confirmed that it declined (politely, of course) to show the stash, “feeling that these records of Britain’s political history were best suited to another collection which would focus on their intrinsic social historical value.” A statement from the museum further explained it is “responsible for chronicling fashionable dress and its collecting policy tends to focus on acquiring examples of outstanding aesthetic or technical quality.”

The Iron Lady’s dashing white raincoat and scarf ensemble, worn while riding a British tank in Germany in 1986, and her “midnight blue velvet wedding dress” complete with “soft brimmed cap with a curled pink ostrich feather and a blue velvet muff” apparently don’t meet that standard.

The decision disappointed fans of Britain’s only female prime minister. “Shame the V&A has turned down Thatcher’s personal collection. I for one would have loved to see it!” tweeted Sajid Javid, the British secretary of state for business, innovation, and skills.

But the V&A’s loss might be the public’s gain, as now any Tom, Dick, or Harriet with a few hundred pounds in their pocket has the chance to own a piece of what Etherington-Smith called “a fascinating panorama of one of the great leaders of our times.”

So what might the ambitious collector find on the auction block? Impress and terrify your friends with the “20th century Kaiser bisque figure of an American bald eagle” — ready to pounce! — which was gifted to Thatcher by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan “for staunch and spirited support of the market economy principle.” Or dazzle your dinner guests with Attila the Hen’s art deco diamond and emerald necklace (a steal at $185,000). Or maybe make the cocktail rounds in the black Tomasz Starzewski cocktail suit she wore to her 70th birthday party.

Some have mourned that parts of the collection will likely leave Britain. “Maybe Lady Thatcher’s old university, Oxford — which so shamefully rejected her for an honorary degree in 1985 — could make amends for that egregious snub and find a place to honour one of its most illustrious graduates,” an editorial in the Telegraph wistfully suggested. An archive of her papers already exists at Churchill College in London.

Bidding for the most modest item starts at just over $300.

Photo credit: JOHNNY EGGITT/AFP/Getty Images