Prince (November 11, 2023) – “Collection of Prince Memorabilia Being Auctioned” Feature

STAR TRIBUNE

The November 11, 2023 Star Tribune reports on an extensive private collection of Prince clothing, jewellery and memorabilia being offered at auction. With 203 items available, the collection spans material from the mid-1980s through the late 1990s and includes the white ruffled shirt associated with the 1985 American Music Awards, high-heeled blue boots from the Act I Tour, a police-style hat, tour fabric samples and wardrobe documentation.

FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS

FEATURE	DETAILS
Artist:	Prince
Publication:	Star Tribune
Publication Date:	November 11, 2023
Location:	Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Section:	Variety
Page:	E8
Writer:	Alex Chhith
Headline:	Collection of Prince memorabilia being auctioned
Subheadline:	Clothing, jewelry and more are being sold
Auction Company:	RR Auction
Number of Items:	203
Collection Period:	Mid-1980s to late 1990s
Auction Closing Date:	November 16, 2023
Format:	News Feature / Memorabilia
Principal Theme:	An extensive private collection documenting Prince’s changing wardrobe and visual presentation being offered for public auction

ORIGINAL SOURCE MATERIAL

ORIGINAL STAR TRIBUNE PAGE

[IMAGE – STAR TRIBUNE, NOVEMBER 11, 2023 – “COLLECTION OF PRINCE MEMORABILIA BEING AUCTIONED”]

INTRODUCTION

A PRIVATE PRINCE COLLECTION	203 ITEMS
The Star Tribune reports on a substantial private collection of Prince memorabilia being offered for auction, ranging from stage clothing and jewellery to wardrobe-related materials.	According to RR Auction executive vice president Bobby Livingston, the sale contained 203 items, providing bidders with material associated with several different periods of Prince’s career.

THE COLLECTION

CLOTHING & JEWELLERY	MEMORABILIA & ARCHIVAL MATERIAL
Stage clothing forms a major part of the sale, including shirts, footwear, headwear and other wardrobe items.	The collection also extends into less immediately recognisable material, including tour fabric samples, handwritten wardrobe documentation and photographs associated with Prince’s clothing.

A LONG-TERM COLLECTION

ASSEMBLED OVER YEARS	DESIGNERS & AUCTIONS
The newspaper reports that the unnamed collector had spent approximately a decade assembling the collection.	Material had been accumulated from various designers and auction houses rather than originating from one single source.

MID-1980s TO THE LATE 1990s

PURPLE RAIN ERA	LATER PERIODS
Much of the material dates from the mid-1980s onwards, including items connected with the enormously visible Purple Rain period.	The newspaper says the collection continues into the late 1990s, allowing the auction to reflect changes in Prince’s clothing and visual presentation across numerous projects.

1985 AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS

WHITE RUFFLED SHIRT	A MAJOR AUCTION ITEM
One of the highlighted pieces is a classic white ruffled shirt associated with Prince’s appearance at the 12th annual American Music Awards in 1985.	The shirt receives a prominent photograph beneath the principal article image and is one of the most immediately recognisable pieces reproduced on the page.

THE WHITE RUFFLED SHIRT

HIGH COLLAR	RUFFLED FRONT
The auction photograph shows the garment with its high neck and elaborate layers of white fabric.	Displayed on a mannequin form, the shirt allows the construction and dramatic ruffled design to be seen without the distraction of other stage clothing.

THE POLICE-STYLE HAT

BLACK HEADWEAR	CHAINMAIL DETAIL
Another photograph shows a black police-style hat decorated with the familiar Symbol on the front.	Metallic hanging elements surround the lower portion of the piece, giving the headwear a distinctive ornamental appearance.

HIGH-HEELED BLUE BOOTS

ACT I TOUR	STAGE FOOTWEAR
A pair of pale blue high-heeled boots associated with the Act I Tour is another of the featured auction lots.	The newspaper reports a valuation of approximately $20,000 for the boots.

VISIBLE WEAR

THE BOOTS	PHYSICAL EVIDENCE OF PERFORMANCE
Bobby Livingston draws attention to the metal bracket braces supporting the heels underneath the footwear.	Livingston describes the amount of wear as evidence of how intensively the boots had been used while Prince performed and danced onstage.

THE ACT I TOUR

BLUE FOOTWEAR	A PERFORMANCE OBJECT
The boots are not presented simply as fashion pieces separated from their original purpose.	Their construction and visible use make them physical documents of stage performance as well as collectable Prince memorabilia.

DYED FABRIC SAMPLES

TOUR WARDROBE	DESIGN MATERIAL
Some of the less conventional lots consist of collections of dyed fabric samples prepared for Prince’s tours.	These survive as evidence of the design process behind the finished clothing rather than simply documenting garments after they had reached the stage.

HANDWRITTEN WARDROBE NOTE

NUDE TOUR	1990
The article highlights a handwritten note relating to wardrobe changes for Prince’s 1990 Nude Tour.	Such documentation provides another layer to the collection by recording planning and organisation behind the visual presentation.

POLAROID PHOTOGRAPHS

WARDROBE COLLECTION	VISUAL DOCUMENTATION
Polaroid photographs associated with Prince’s wardrobe are also included amongst the more unusual pieces.	These photographs help document clothing away from the performances themselves and form part of the larger archive of wardrobe material represented in the sale.

A FASHION COLLECTION ACROSS A CAREER

ONE PROJECT ENDS	ANOTHER LOOK BEGINS
Livingston emphasises how frequently Prince’s fashion changed as new musical projects appeared.	The collection is consequently presented as more than an assortment of isolated clothes. Taken together, the objects document changing visual identities across successive phases of Prince’s career.

PURPLE RAIN

MID-1980s MATERIAL	THE STARTING POINT FOR MUCH OF THE COLLECTION
The article identifies the Purple Rain era amongst the periods represented by the clothing.	Items from this period sit alongside material from later projects, illustrating how quickly Prince’s visual presentation continued to develop.

LOVESEXY

ANOTHER DISTINCT PERIOD	WARDROBE EVOLUTION
Lovesexy is specifically named among the periods represented in the collection.	The inclusion reinforces the auction’s emphasis on following Prince’s fashion through successive musical projects rather than concentrating exclusively upon Purple Rain.

PARADE

ANOTHER ERA REPRESENTED	CONTINUING CHANGE
Parade is also named within the article’s summary of the collection.	Its presence contributes another identifiable point in the progression of Prince’s 1980s wardrobe and stage presentation.

SIGN O’ THE TIMES

THE LATE 1980s	ANOTHER DISTINCT VISUAL PHASE
Sign o’ the Times is included amongst the periods covered by the collection.	Together with Purple Rain, Parade and Lovesexy, the reference demonstrates the breadth of 1980s Prince material being represented.

THE AUCTION

RR AUCTION	BIDDING
RR Auction was handling the sale, with material available at widely differing starting bids.	The article states that some lots opened at bids of around $100, while the higher-profile pieces could command substantially greater amounts.

AUCTION CLOSE

NOVEMBER 16, 2023	6 P.M.
Bidding was scheduled to close on November 16.	The newspaper gives the closing time as 6 p.m.

THE MAIN PHOTOGRAPH

PRINCE AT THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS	LOS ANGELES – 1985
The large colour archive photograph dominating the centre of the newspaper page shows Prince performing during the American Music Awards ceremony in Los Angeles in 1985.	A white guitar, green patterned jacket and elaborate white ruffled shirt are clearly visible, connecting the historical performance photograph directly with one of the clothing items highlighted in the auction.

THE PERFORMANCE IMAGE & THE AUCTION ITEM

THEN	NOW
The large archive photograph shows the ruffled white clothing within its original performance context.	Immediately beneath, the auction photograph isolates a similar white ruffled garment as a collectable object, creating a strong visual connection between performance history and memorabilia.

FOUR AUCTION IMAGES

CLOTHING & ACCESSORIES	ARCHIVAL MATERIAL
The lower photographic strip shows the white ruffled shirt, police-style hat and pale blue high-heeled boots.	The final image contains fabric samples, papers and other wardrobe-related materials, demonstrating that the auction extended beyond finished stage garments.

THE STAR TRIBUNE PRESENTATION

VARIETY – PAGE E8	A LARGE-FORMAT FEATURE
The story appears on Page E8 beneath the Star Tribune’s Variety heading.	The enormous headline, principal performance photograph and four auction images give the story substantial visual prominence across the page.

A MINNEAPOLIS PERSPECTIVE

PRINCE MEMORABILIA	STAR TRIBUNE
The feature appears in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, giving the auction coverage a particularly direct connection with the city most closely associated with Prince’s career.	The article concentrates on the objects themselves, their provenance within the private collection and what they reveal about Prince’s changing fashion.

WHAT THE FEATURE DOCUMENTS

PRINCE MATERIAL	THE AUCTION
White ruffled shirt 1985 American Music Awards connection Police-style hat High-heeled blue Act I Tour boots Dyed fabric samples Nude Tour wardrobe note Polaroid wardrobe photographs Material spanning multiple Prince eras	RR Auction 203 items reported Collection assembled over approximately a decade Items obtained from designers and auction houses Some bids beginning around $100 Blue boots valued at approximately $20,000 November 16 closing date

CONTEXT AND NOTES

HISTORICAL CONTEXT	ARCHIVAL SIGNIFICANCE
The Star Tribune feature was published on November 11, 2023 while the private collection was actively being offered through RR Auction.	The page provides useful contemporary documentation of the auction before the objects were dispersed to new owners, preserving a snapshot of the collection while it was still presented as one substantial group.
Bobby Livingston describes the sale as a wide-ranging fashion collection following Prince’s career and emphasises the way Prince changed fashion and design alongside successive musical projects.	This gives the auction value beyond celebrity ownership alone. Clothing, fabric samples, footwear and notes collectively document practical aspects of Prince’s changing visual presentation.
The article provides specific valuations and starting-bid information current at the time of publication.	Those figures are preserved as contemporary auction information rather than treated as permanent valuations of the objects.

CONCLUSION

A COLLECTION OF PRINCE MEMORABILIA	FASHION AS PART OF THE ARCHIVE
The Star Tribune’s November 2023 feature documents an unusually broad Prince collection at the moment it was being broken apart for auction. Familiar stage clothing sits beside footwear, headwear, fabric samples, photographs and handwritten wardrobe material, providing several different ways of understanding the visual world surrounding the music.	Most revealing is the sense of continual reinvention. From Purple Rain through Parade, Sign o’ the Times, Lovesexy and into the 1990s, the collection reflects an artist whose clothing changed alongside the work itself. As an archival newspaper page, the feature preserves that story before the 203 objects moved into separate collections.

SOURCES / COPYRIGHT & ARCHIVAL USE

SOURCES

Star Tribune

November 11, 2023

Alex Chhith

RR Auction

Associated Press photography

Original supplied Star Tribune page

COPYRIGHT & ARCHIVAL USE

All newspaper scans, photographs, auction imagery, clothing designs, memorabilia and original text excerpts referenced in this entry remain the property of their respective copyright holders. This Chronicle entry is a transformative, non-commercial archival summary created for historical documentation and educational reference. No ownership of the original material is claimed or implied.