Scotland’s fashion discount queen mounted a clearance sale of her own – all in the aid of charity.
Coatbridge-born Vera Weisfeld amassed her considerable fortune building the retail chain What Every Woman Wants into an icon of the British fashion industry.
She and her husband Gerald collected £50 million when they sold the business to Philip Green almost 30 years ago, back in 1990.
Now, the businesswoman has emptied her gilded display cabinets of valuable personal trinkets and paintings collected over a lifetime of luxury shopping.
A total of 150 of Vera’s favourite things were put under the hammer at McTears Works of Art Auction in Glasgow; and she is donating all proceeds from the special auction to the Kilbryde Hospice in East Kilbride.
The 81-year-old said: “I have supported the hospice since the early days of it being established.
“It takes people from my hometown of Coatbridge, so it’s rather personal to me.
“These items have almost all been bought by me over the years, whether at Harrods in London or art galleries across the south of France.
“I only struggled to let go of the bronze statuettes I’ve donated, but this gives someone else the chance to enjoy a nice piece, while helping the charity at the same time.”
The items auctioned off included a bronze sculpture of Robert Burns, Scotland’s most famous poet, who is much admired by fan of the Bard Vera.
It was during the 1970s that Vera and her husband Gerald forged their What Every Woman Wants empire in Glasgow, churning out Ra-Ra skirts for just £1.
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The chain won over a generation of women unable to afford the prices of more expensive fashion houses.
Vera used her business eye to try to ensure everyone has a chance of snapping up something from the 150 items she has donated.
She explained: “My Christian Dior plates were bought as a set but I thought they would be too expensive if sold as a whole, which is why the collection was split up.
“These things were part of my life. But I am 81 now and while they have given me pleasure, I will also be getting pleasure by giving them away.
“It’s great that, in the process, it may help the older generation of Lanarkshire.
“The Kilbryde Hospice does a wonderful job and I would encourage people to do anything they can to help them.”
Well-known Scottish artists also featured prominently in the auction, with several graduates of the Glasgow School of Art represented.
Among them was the late Alan King, via his signed and framed “In my new striped trousers and red hat” work; and fellow art school graduate, and official artist to the Tall Ships visit, William Dobbie who kept things nautical with a portrait showing “The Waverley on the horizon”.
