Cher selling Gothic possessions in lifestyle make-over

A necklace worn by singer and actress Cher is displayed at Sotherby's auction house in London. Picture / Reuters

LOS ANGELES - We love you Cher. But do we love you enough to spend US$800 ($1200) for your high school yearbook or US$700 for a pair of Sonny's brown fur boots or up to US$6000 for one of your many Bob Mackie-designed gowns?

Probably the answer will be a resounding "Yes" because buying celebrity "artifacts" is a current Hollywood rage and there were even bidders recently for a bottle of Marilyn Monroe's nosedrops.

Now Cher, a self-declared pack rat, has decided to unload hundreds of items -- from a print of Herb Ritts' famed poster of her lower back tattoo to big pieces of Gothic style furniture, a Bentley and a Hummer complete with an autographed camouflage helmet -- while she is still alive.

"I have no idea who will buy this stuff and it is kind of strange we are doing the auction because mostly it is done when people are dead," Cher said in a recent interview ahead of the October 3-4 sale at the Beverly Hills Hilton hotel conducted by Sotheby's and Julien's Auctions.

The singer/actress has lived a life celebrating make-overs. She has been a blonde, a brunette, straight-haired and frizzy, with onstage appearances ranging from nearly naked to elaborately gowned.

She's been a TV star, an Oscar-winning film actress, a chart-topping pop singer, and she conducted a farewell tour that never seemed to end.

Now she wants to start over again, at least with home furnishings and other possessions. So she is getting rid of most of the Gothic furniture and paintings that decorated her Malibu mansion for years.

Everything goes from floor lamps to arm chairs to the crucifixes hanging on the wall -- but nothing new goes in until Cher figures out what to do next.

Auctioneer Darren Julian said Cher is considering redecorating in a Moroccan-Tibetan style, but she insists she is undecided.

The 783 items up for sale are expected to fetch more than US$1 million, according to Julien. Part of the proceeds will go to provide better helmets for troops in Iraq.

Cher said her philosophy is simple: "You don't have to keep everything. I took everything out of storage and you can't believe the stuff we found, paintings from the first house I had with Sonny (the late Sonny Bono, her ex-husband and former singing partner) and all my children's Halloween costumes."

Among them was a Leroy Neiman painting of herself, Sonny and their daughter Chastity done in 1971 in loud acrylic yellows and greens from photos of the happy family, not from a pose. It is expected to fetch between US$4000 and US$6000.

While Cher is not certain how many dresses she is selling, she says she knows what she is keeping -- "I am keeping the dresses that are special to me," she said.

They include the vamp dress she wore when she made the cover of Time Magazine, the dress she wore when she won her best actress Oscar in 1988 for Moonstruck, and the red, white and blue dress she wore when she was kicked out of the London Hilton in 1965.

Yes, kicked out of the Hilton hotel.

In 1965, when Sonny and Cher were just getting started, they were asked to leave the Hilton because their attire was too hip -- the incident received wide publicity and helped boost sales of the couple's best-known song I Got You Babe.

"That was an important moment," Cher said.

Among the other items she is keeping are a series of religious paintings that she likes, especially one of Jesus in a caftan.

And oh, yes. She is also keeping a letter of apology sent recently by the Hilton Hotel chain for throwing her out of their London establishment.

- REUTERS