SThey were a hit wherever they appeared: Alice and Ellen Kessler, beautiful twin sisters and gifted dancers, filled the halls as showbiz stars and drew crowds of viewers in front of the television screens. The identically born near Leipzig were not even twenty years old when the director of the Lido discovered them in a Düsseldorf revue in 1955 and brought them to Paris, where they started their international career. With two performances a day, seven days a week, the beginning was hard-earned.
The Kessler twins embodied what was called “Miss Miracle” when they were invited to America’s shows by Dean Martin, Ed Sullivan and Frank Sinatra. The latter, who didn’t grow very tall, joked: “If I had known that they were that big, I would have teased my hair too.” On Italian television, where the blond “Gemelle Kessler” celebrated great success, they were allowed to show their legs – in black tights, of course. “We thought our career would be over by the time we were thirty,” the sisters said in an interview, “but then new doors kept opening and it went on and on” for around forty years. Now the Kessler twins are parting with stage costumes and accessories from that time.
Mermaid look squared: these dresses, which the twins wore at the Paris Lido in 1956, are valued at 2,000 to 3,000 euros each.
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Image: ©Kosta Potezica/NEUMEISTER
The Neumeister auction house is selling more than fifty lots in an online auction from October 12th to 30th. The Kessler ladies donate the proceeds to the flood victims in the Ahr Valley, who they feel have lost their focus due to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic. When asked who might be able to acquire the beautiful things, Ellen Kessler replies: “Maybe some of them are interesting for a museum. Or for twin influencers?” Vintage fashion is booming, but you also have to have the right figure for these pieces. Fantastically shimmering, truly mermaid-worthy mermaid dresses, which the twins wore in 1956 at one of their first appearances in Paris, are size 34 (estimate 2000 to 3000 euros each).
Noble one-off: gold lamée dress from the “Kessler Cabaret Show” from 1980, estimated at 1200 to 1600 euros
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Image: ©Kosta Potezica/NEUMEISTER
The clothing size later changed slightly, but the sisters, who live in a Munich semi-detached house, are still slim today. They wore sleeveless trouser suits in bright orange in 1966 on the “Dean Martin Show” (1000/1300 each), bright pink halterneck mini dresses with swinging fringes in 1976 on a TV show in Italy (700/900 each). Black mini dresses with pearl skirts, worn in 1980, cost 1,000 to 1,300 euros each. A floor-length gold lamée dress from 1980 (1200/1600) comes “more dressed” as a one-off. “Sexy, but never vulgar” is how the sisters describe all the handcrafted outfits that were tailored for them in Italy and France from fine fabrics and often glamorously embroidered. Some pieces can be found on YouTube videos, as can the joking Sinatra. The cheapest lots, two red feather boas, are between 200 and 280 euros each and undoubtedly fit around every neck.
