[POSSIBLE SCAM?] Previously Owned Dress by Lana Up For Auction - Feb. 19th

[Elle 124,634]

10 hours ago, Lanaparadiserey said:

Wait not you clocking it omg

 

10 hours ago, The Stargirl Pinky said:

Omg???? Elle literally counted pixels and busted myths tonight this is crazy keep counting pixels during the pre-release gorls it really pays off TWERPS we’re coming for you 

 

 This is the expierience of being a crazy LDR fan!

I emailed the auction house about my concerns, including the photos and descriptions I made in my previous post. We'll see what they have to say about the matter, as they either received another version of the dress that is not the original, used a stock photo, or it photographed differently (but I really don't see how that last option is possible tbh), but nobody is getting scammed on my watch

[Elle 124,634]

5 hours ago, Lindsay Lohan said:

Worn during the Paradise tour!

 

Just another fun note, she also wore this dress out to a club with friends in January 2014 lol. It was rare to see her in the same outfit twice around this time especially one from the stage, so it’s pretty cool! She must’ve really liked it x

 

[Lindsay Lohan 11,806]

3 hours ago, Elle said:

Okay wait… uh.. this might be a scam?? The dress they have pictured does NOT appear to be the one Lana wore.

 

This is a picture of the dress that was sold in the pop-up shop. It was also signed for the fan who originally bought it, which is not noted in that auction description - 

 
 

 

Now look at the picture of Lana wearing it and the one the auction house has listed, specifically on the right side. The photos of Lana wearing the dress and the photo from the pop-up show that the right side of the dress is yellow and green. The one from the auction house shows mostly purple? And the inner collar of the original is yellow and pink where the one from the auction house shows pink and red.
Then look at the front pleats. The pictures of the dress from the pop-up shop and on Lana show a green panel, a panel of purple and red, and then a purple panel. The picture of the dress from the auction house shows a red pink and yellow panel, a green panel, and then a blue and purple.

Also if you look at the big red spot on the left edge right above where the seam meets, you see a white dot right on the left edge in the auction house picture. On the pop-up and LDR picture, that dot veers more towards the right. The placement of the red&pink patches above it also look different.

& again, they did not note that the dress was signed, which the original is, and I feel like that’s an important detail to note.

I’m going to contact the auction house about the authenticity of the dress so no one is cheated lol there’s a possibility they maybe used a stock photo of the dress or the way it’s pleated makes it appear different in that photo, but… something seems off x

 

Pop up pic on left, LDR pic in center, Auction house pic on right:

 

Edit: one more discrepancy I noticed is that Lana altered the sleeves to be smaller/less drape-y (she commonly alters a lot of her stage wear) If you look at this photo of her wearing the dress with her arms raised, you can see that the sleeves don’t drape as they originally do. You can look at my photo wearing the dress a few posts above to see how the sleeves originally fall. When looking at the auction house photo, the sleeves look to be unaltered as you can see the extra length draping at the sides. Lana has them shortened, which is more evident in the popup picture - 

 

HELLO?????!!?

 

I saw that exact thing with the collar and I just thought it might have just been a weird angle cause why would a site auctioning off Elvis Presley items have a fake dress on the site...

I also couldn't find any photo of the dress from the pop up shop  Will add it to the thread title

[Elle 124,634]

8 hours ago, Lindsay Lohan said:

 

HELLO?????!!?

 

I saw that exact thing with the collar and I just thought it might have just been a weird angle cause why would a site auctioning off Elvis Presley items have a fake dress on the site...

I also couldn't find any photo of the dress from the pop up shop  Will add it to the thread title

It’s likely not intentional if it is in fact a fake, it does look similar enough that they probably didn’t notice it’s actually not the original. However, it’s interesting they have two authentication letters on it when I was able to clock it at first glance lol.

I’ll update everyone when the auction house replies to my email for what they have to say, hopefully before the auction goes live. The biggest discrepancies are the fact that the original is signed and had its sleeves altered, so hopefully they are able to check for these details on the dress they have before anyone bids x

[shadesofblue 19,282]

3 hours ago, Elle said:

 

 

 This is the expierience of being a crazy LDR fan!

I emailed the auction house about my concerns, including the photos and descriptions I made in my previous post. We'll see what they have to say about the matter, as they either received another version of the dress that is not the original, used a stock photo, or it photographed differently (but I really don't see how that last option is possible tbh), but nobody is getting scammed on my watch

that's my PRESIDENT 💜 

 

Spoiler

thank you for calling this out, it’d be a shame if a lipster spent thousands of $ on a scam or something fake. even if this is real, it’s good to verify just in case

 

[Elle 124,634]

One last interesting note for now, sorry for blowing up this thread today lol, but this auction house has also auctioned 5 of Lana’s other dresses.

 

They sold this one from her 2012 House Festival performance for $2000 in 2016. They did not state how they obtained it nor much info at all about it. This dress is originally from Topshop so it’s a common find, I actually have two of these (bought it in too big of a size initially, I still need to sell off some of my size duplicates) -

 

 

They sold this one from her 2012 Latitude Festival performance for $1100 also in 2016. They stated they sourced it from a female stylist (interesting because I believe at this point her stylist was Johnny Blue Eyes?) but she wished to be anonymous so they couldn’t provide any documents to support the dress, but still provided their house’s own certificate of authenticity. This one is also a commonly found Topshop dress, another one that I own lol -

 

 

They sold this dress from her 2012 H&M campaign for $2000 in 2016 again, stating that it’s the one she wore for the photoshoot, but did not state how they obtained it or much information about it. Again, this one was from her H&M campaign, so it was pretty easy to come by -

 

They listed this (actually) vintage dress in 2020 for $600, but it didn’t sell. They stated they obtained it from the pop-up which I can seemingly verify with a photo from the shop where you can see a bit of it in the left edge. Lana was never photographed wearing this though -

 

This one was also listed in 2020 for $1000, but also didn’t sell. They once again stated it was obtained from the pop-up shop, but I cannot personally verify this. I have quite a bit of photos saved of the clothes sold at the pop-up that I just looked through and didn’t see this one; however, I also cannot assume that every item sold was photographed. It’s also signed by Lana, but tbh the signature looks a little suspect to me. Just my opinion, but it does look different from her usual signature, even compared to other dresses she signed from the pop-up. She’s also never been photographed wearing this - 

 

Here’s an example of another dress she signed and sold to a fan at the pop-up, which looks much more like her typical signature -

 

Anyway, not sure what to make of all of this lol but it is really interesting that this is now their 6th Lana clothing piece they’ve auctioned, yet I do feel doubtful about the authenticity of some of these x

[111 37,445]

the way they are scamming people with fake dresses and elle said:

 

[ultrablvd 48,714]

oh elle clocked them downnn😭😭 scammers omg...  

 

i always get iffy about these types of auctions for this exact reason. unless it is a one-of-a-kind piece made for the artist it is next to impossible to authenticate (unless it is a printed pattern and elle used her sleuthing expertise)

[longtimeman 9,184]

Thank you Elle for the great detective work. One way or another, hopefully there is information forthcoming from the Auction House. If they care about their reputation at all, they won't want to be stained by being connected to counterfeits/scams.

Also, 'Certificate of Authenticity' is not really worth anything, unless it's from someone who is completely reliable, and definitely not if it just comes from the Auction House. I'd trust it in this case if it was a proven CoA from, say, Johnny Blue Eyes or Chuck, but not from some random 'dress expert' or whoever they got to sign it.

[Elle 124,634]

Update, I heard back from the auction house a few minutes ago saying that they will check with the team as well as consignor of the dress, and thanked me for bringing my concern to their attention.

So, this confirms that the dress is being sold on consignment, meaning someone who owns the dress reached out to the auction house with the dress to be sold through the auction on the owner’s behalf, and the profit will be divided between the owner and the auction house. Honestly, that only adds to my suspicion as this could easily be someone who bought another version of this dress and is trying to scam some money through a fraudulent sale. This also makes me more concerned about some of the other dresses the auction house sold that are common finds, because as @ultrablvd and @longtimeman noted, unless the piece came directly from a reliable source such as Lana herself or a team-member or is a piece that’s either one of a kind or has some unique identifying detail (such as an authentic signature, alteration, or pattern placement like in this scenario) how can it truly be reliably authenticated? It’s also interesting that three of the commonly-found pieces were sold in 2016, because that was a pretty prominent year for LDR dress collectors. There was a whole little Instagram community of dress collectors during that time that I was a part of where we would all help each other identify brands and source dresses for our collections and share our new finds with each other. We would sell and trade with each other too. It’s the year I personally bought both of those Topshop dresses that the auction house also sold, and I know other collectors were sourcing them around then too again since it was a pretty big time for collecting. Again, it just makes me suspicious that since these dresses are being sold through consignment, that the consignors could’ve just been random people scamming with other versions of the dresses they found.

Anyway, I will continue to keep you all updated, but it seems now they are working on verifying the authenticity of the dress with the discrepancies I shared with them - the signature, altered sleeves, and overall pattern. Hopefully this matter gets sorted before the auction is due to go live, or they delay it until it can be 100% verified x

[Tana Mongeau 5,048]

2 hours ago, ultrablvd said:

oh elle clocked them downnn😭😭 scammers omg...  

 

i always get iffy about these types of auctions for this exact reason. unless it is a one-of-a-kind piece made for the artist it is next to impossible to authenticate (unless it is a printed pattern and elle used her sleuthing expertise)

get ur law diploma out baddie

[Elle 124,634]

9 minutes ago, Tana Mongeau said:

get ur law diploma out baddie

I have one friend who is a working attorney, another friend who is in law school, and a friend who has worked as a paralegal for well over a decade, so I feel like I’m an honourary lawyer at this point from all of the knowledge they have bestowed upon me over the years  

 

That being said, no one ever try to come for me… I’m backed by the best, it’s a promise not a threat xx 

 

With my expert-level Lana knowledge also in tow, I feel like I could be a pretty reliable third-party authenticator too. I’m literally going to tell this auction house that if they ever have another consignor with a Lana piece they want to sell to feel free to consult with me LMAO I mean as someone who owns ~150 ASO Lana pieces, I feel I’m as knowledgable as it gets in this niche xx

[Tana Mongeau 5,048]

35 minutes ago, Elle said:

I have one friend who is a working attorney, another friend who is in law school, and a friend who has worked as a paralegal for well over a decade, so I feel like I’m an honourary lawyer at this point from all of the knowledge they have bestowed upon me over the years  

 

That being said, no one ever try to come for me… I’m backed by the best, it’s a promise not a threat xx 

 

With my expert-level Lana knowledge also in tow, I feel like I could be a pretty reliable third-party authenticator too. I’m literally going to tell this auction house that if they ever have another consignor with a Lana piece they want to sell to feel free to consult with me LMAO I mean as someone who owns ~150 ASO Lana pieces, I feel I’m as knowledgable as it gets in this niche xx

can i borrow your friends for my Atlantic records lawsuit please x

[Elle 124,634]

Well, the auction is now live…  still haven’t heard another follow-up response from them yet following their initial reply to me stating they’re looking into the matter, but I assume they’re trying to get ahold of the consignor and waiting for their response.

The auction will last for over two weeks though, so hopefully they can pull it down in time if it turns out to be a fake even if people begin to bid.

Again, will keep you all updated x

[111 37,445]

2 hours ago, Elle said:

Well, the auction is now live…  still haven’t heard another follow-up response from them yet following their initial reply to me stating they’re looking into the matter, but I assume they’re trying to get ahold of the consignor and waiting for their response.

The auction will last for over two weeks though, so hopefully they can pull it down in time if it turns out to be a fake even if people begin to bid.

Again, will keep you all updated x

 

they are probably in on it hun, they can't all be lanita verified like yourself! let them make their 2 scammy dollars, you've done your duty to the body electricians xoxo

 

[ultrablvd 48,714]

7 minutes ago, 111 said:

 

they are probably in on it hun, they can't all be lanita verified like yourself! let them make their 2 scammy dollars, you've done your duty to the body electricians xoxo

 

as gross as it is they probably don’t care as long as they are getting money  why are we as a fanbase always getting scammed... 

[Brooklyn Fetus 4,285]

19 hours ago, Lindsay Lohan said:

  Hide contents

 

 

 the amneville earrings 🤩

[misselectrarockwell 795]

10 hours ago, Elle said:

They sold this one from her 2012 House Festival performance for $2000 in 2016. They did not state how they obtained it nor much info at all about it. This dress is originally from Topshop so it’s a common find, I actually have two of these (bought it in too big of a size initially, I still need to sell off some of my size duplicates) -

 

 

They sold this one from her 2012 Latitude Festival performance for $1100 also in 2016. They stated they sourced it from a female stylist (interesting because I believe at this point her stylist was Johnny Blue Eyes?) but she wished to be anonymous so they couldn’t provide any documents to support the dress, but still provided their house’s own certificate of authenticity. This one is also a commonly found Topshop dress, another one that I own lol 

Could the female stylist in question be Maeve? She was seen with Lana a lot around 2012, although I know Johnny was her stylist for the paradise tour and other career events at the time, so I’m not sure if Maeve and Lana were friends or rather work acquaintances instead. If anyone has more knowledge on that timeline they could fact check it maybe and see, because truthfully I don’t know much about her but it might be a possibility xx

[Elle 124,634]

27 minutes ago, ultrablvd said:

as gross as it is they probably don’t care as long as they are getting money  why are we as a fanbase always getting scammed... 

 

Again, I don’t believe it’s the auction’s house intent to scam, but rather the consignor’s. The auction house would be partially at fault though for failing to accurately authenticate the item. Which, I understand the dress does look similar enough, but it really wasn’t that difficult to notice the discrepancies even with just the pictures of Lana wearing it onstage compared to the photo of the dress they received. It doesn’t take an expert-level Lana fan to notice fabric print differences lol.

Though at the end of the day, even if the main moral responsibility lies with the consignor aka owner of the item, since the auction house also profits from this as well, they do have a moral duty to at least guarantee the items received from consignors are authentic, or at least declare uncertainty. Meanwhile, this auction house is offering two authentication letters even though the item doesn’t appear to actually be authentic (noting here that it still hasn’t been confirmed to be fake, but it really does seem likely.) I actually had a friend who sold two memorabilia items through an auction house recently, but he went the extra mile himself to personally guarantee the items were authentic before having them listed. One he was already certain about since it was a signed photo he received personally from an artist addressed to him, but he still got it authenticated anyway for the certificate. The second was a signed band poster that he received as a gift, but wasn’t sure of the authenticity. He took it to two authenticators who both said the signatures were likely forged, so he didn't intend on selling it, but upon mentioning it to the auction house they still offered to sell it with a lower starting bid due to lack of authentication.. but again, it was pretty much already confirmed to be fake  Anyway, he made some good money off of the first item, but withheld the other. It just kind of goes to show that these auction houses may not always be reliable, but at the end of the day, it’s the consignor’s intentions that really matter and are the real scammers if an item isn’t really authentic.

I hate to be such a super skeptic raining on the parade, but again I don’t want any Lipsters to be scammed in case this dress isn’t the original, which I’m really feeling like it isn’t x

[shadesofblue 19,282]

the real @Elle woods