Daphne Guinness sells off a dream wardrobe

A wardrobe clear-out for most people involves piling a few battered Topshop buys and some hastily-purchased Primark items into a carrier bag and strolling them down to the local charity shop. Meanwhile, the only superfluous footwear has been reheeled so many times the only way to avoid committing fashion crimes against charity shops is to throw them in the bin.

For Daphne Guinness, on the other hand, it seems to involve hiring a van, carefully cataloguing each item and shipping it off to be auctioned for charity.

Daphne, who used to be married to a Greek shipping heir, yesterday auctioned off 250 designer lots for the Womankind charity. Up for grabs was everything from sky-high Christian Dior wedges to an Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche dress. Meanwhile, assorted Chanel knitwear or hauls of 25 bags were up for grabs.

A pair of Alexander McQueen boots sold for £3,600, and a black-silk wrap over Dolce and Gabbana evening coat went for £5,000 - well above their estimates. The final figure from the auction has yet to be calculated, but the charity says they estimate the final donation could be as much as £50,000.

All the lots have gone, but you can still take a peek at them here, they are are quite frankly, fascinating and throw up so many questions.

First of all, how much time does this lady spend shopping to have developed such an enviable collection? How many rooms of her house are dedicated to clothes? We want to see the storage solutions - surely shoes like the one above deserve their own display cabinet? And if these are her cast-offs, can we see the items she's decided to keep?

If this has got you in the mood for bidding, you can log on to Prada.com, where they're selling off the prototypes of their Spring/Summer Collection. Sadly not for charity, but covetable all the same.