La Doña's Treasures Up for Auction

A Christian Dior ivory cocktail dress, a silver headboard designed by a lover, a charcoal portrait from one of her films, and 604 other treasures: María Félix led quite a life and left quite an estate.

A Christian Dior ivory cocktail dress, a silver headboard designed by a lover, a charcoal portrait from one of her films, and 604 other treasures: María Félix led quite a life and left quite an estate.

The late Mexican film star will reclaim the limelight when her possessions are auctioned at Christie's in New York next week. Famed as a collector of men, Félix was also a great collector of paintings, furniture, couture, porcelain and jewelry. She died in 2002, aged 88, after a career which spanned dozens of films, including an iconic role as Doña Barbara, a 1943 Latin American classic which tells the story of a Venezuelan woman who is raped and later dresses in men's clothes tyrannising a ranch.