Sandy Powell’s signed suit to be auctioned to help save Prospect Cottage

British costume designer and three-time Academy Award winner Sandy Powell is to donate the cream calico suit she wore to the 2020 Critics’ Circle, BAFTA and Oscar ceremonies to raise funds for our £3.5million campaign to save Prospect Cottage, the home and garden of visionary British filmmaker, artist and activist Derek Jarman.

Throughout the awards season Sandy asked nominees to sign the suit, gathering the autographs of over 100 film world stars including Scarlett Johansson, Brad Pitt, Renée Zellweger, Bong Joon Ho, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Elton John, Joaquin Phoenix, Laura Dern, Saoirse Ronan and many more known for their work both in front of and behind the camera.

Jarman was a close friend and mentor to Powell, who started her career working as the costume designer on his 1986 film Caravaggio.

Phillips’ online auction will run from 11am on Wednesday 4 March to 5pm GMT on Wednesday 11 March 2020. During this time the suit will be on display at the front reception at Phillips in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, London.

Campaign reaches major milestone

The campaign received a major boost last week with a commitment from the Luma Foundation to protecting Derek Jarman’s legacy as a pioneering filmmaker. The foundation has restored Jarman’s 92 Super 8 shorts and shared them with audiences worldwide, and there is huge potential for future collaboration between the artistic programme of residencies planned for Prospect Cottage and the Luma Foundation’s cultural centre in Arles, France, currently under development.

This grant, together with support from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, the Linbury Trust and the contributions of over 4,500 people to our crowdfunding campaign, brings the funds raised so far to £2,640,000 – with £860,000 still to be raised by 31 March 2020 to purchase Prospect Cottage and to establish a permanently funded programme to conserve and maintain the building, its contents and its garden for the future.

Artists Tacita Dean, Jeremy Deller, Michael Craig-Martin, Isaac Julien, Howard Sooley, Wolfgang Tillmans and Peter Fillingham, and landscape designer Dan Pearson, have donated rewards in return for donations on Art Fund’s crowdfunding site. Painter Peter Doig has also donated a work to be sold in support of the campaign.

Stephen Deuchar, Art Fund director, said: ‘As we approach the final phase of the campaign to save Prospect Cottage and protect and extend Derek Jarman’s legacy, today marks a significant milestone as we celebrate the Luma Foundation’s major grant in support of our cause. Meanwhile, Sandy Powell’s idea of auctioning a star-signed suit, made possible by Phillips, is a brilliant, beautiful gesture, propelling us further towards our important target and its challenging deadline.’

Phillips said: 'Phillips is very proud to support Art Fund’s campaign to save Prospect Cottage and to protect Derek Jarman’s legacy. We are honoured to host both the online auction and the exhibition of Sandy Powell’s wonderful suit in our galleries on Berkeley Square. The goal in our partnership is to help secure Prospect Cottage’s future as a centre of creative activity and we are incredibly humbled to play a part.'

Maja Hoffmann, President of the Luma Foundation: said, 'Since 2011, we have been very committed to safeguarding Derek Jarman’s archive of Super 8 works for the future, which will become part of the Archives Programme at Luma Arles (France). The Luma Foundation looks forward to continuing its support of Jarman’s work by facilitating artist residencies and fostering exchanges between Arles and Prospect Cottage.'

Stars signing Sandy's suit

Here are just a few shots of stars signing Sandy Powell's suit, in support of our campaign to save Prospect Cottage. Take a look at the full list of signatories below – with more names still being added.