Ms. Gottlieb, how does one become a fashion collector?

For a long time I wasn't even aware that I was one.

I was fascinated by accessories from an early age, fashion didn't come into it until the late 1990s.

Since 2000, vintage fashion has received increasing attention, including auctions of dresses by Elizabeth Taylor and Princess Diana.

In 2013 I exhibited dresses and accessories by Balmain, Givenchy, Pucci and Dior at the “Vogue Fashion's Night Out” in the Düsseldorf auction house Dorotheum.

People came in their hundreds.

That's when I was told for the first time: you have a real collection!

Your collection is now internationally known – and now you are parting with a large part.

The British auctioneer Kerry Taylor, who has already auctioned off Marilyn Monroe's white dress and Princess Diana's fashion, plays an important role here.

It was always clear to me that I would only auction with Kerry Taylor on board.

We met in the early noughties, just before she was leading the auction of a Princess Diana dress.

She is the fashion expert.

I learned a lot from her and also bought from her, so she knows my collection well.

In July last year she called me and asked what I thought about an auction of my collection.

But I was still hesitant.

What made you change your mind?

The flood last July.

Just one night after Kerry's call, water flooded the house - and I, in my nightgown, raincoat, and rubber boots, went downstairs to the storerooms.

I only worked and brought a total of 16 meters of clothing to my apartment on racks.

At eleven in the morning everything was safe and I thought: I'm 75, that's too much for me, the heavy things have to go.

I can hardly grasp an evening dress that weighs eight kilograms.

Especially not when it's two meters high.

For a long time, you yourself drove your collection to exhibitions across Europe by truck.

This time, too, I brought the pieces to Paris myself, but an acquaintance accompanied me.

I don't like to sit at home, play bridge and then be exhausted in the evening.

work doesn't hurt.

Does that also apply to the time in your parents' shop, who ran a shop on Düsseldorf's Königsallee?

I never saw that as work.

There I met the greatest people, for example Vera Krupp, who actually wore the Krupp diamond.

I had a strict upbringing, received pocket money of 30 marks a month until I was 30, but that's how I learned to deal with money.

Before I got into my parents' business, my father insisted that I do a business apprenticeship and get to know the trade.

So, among other things, I worked in a tannery, in a tortoise shell company, and I got a taste of what was going on at Hermès.

You also owe your acquaintance with Christian Dior to your parents' business?

Yes, in 1949, when I was three years old, my mother took me to Paris.

One of our customers had raved about these new Mr. Dior bottles, she wanted to see them and order them for the store immediately.

So she took me to Avenue Montaigne and met Monsieur Dior.

And this fine gentleman in a white coat gave me little chocolate bars.

Did encounters like this influence your later collection?

I've always been interested in the people behind the big names and the stories behind the individual pieces.

And my focus was mostly on the 1950s and 1960s because I experienced that period myself.

How did you find all these pieces, did you specifically look for them?