Nancy’s fundraiser… for Nancy
SHE once claimed British women are afraid to be feminine and glamorous when it comes to their sartorial choices.
Now Nancy Dell’Olio is lending them a helping hand – by selling her own clothes in the hope of raising thousands of pounds for herself.
The former girlfriend of ex-England football manager Sven- Goran Eriksson is believed to have been living in a North London property owned by friends since losing her home earlier this year over alleged rent arrears.
The lawyer, 53, is trying to put any money worries behind her by enlisting leading fashion houses to donate items for her to sell alongside her dresses, shoes and bags at a cash- only auction being held today.
Chanel, Hermes, Dolce & Gabbana and Christian Louboutin will all have items available at the event in Mayfair, with up to 50 per cent off.
Explaining her move to downsize her wardrobe, a friend of Miss Dell’Olio said: ‘Nancy believes she is a stylish woman and feels this is a good opportunity for the public to buy a piece of Nancy and raise money for her at the same time.’
Miss Dell’Olio split from Eriksson in 2006 and has tried to forge a career in entertainment, appearing on Strictly Come Dancing and taking a one-woman show to the Edinburgh Festival.
In May removal men were pictured taking her belongings from her £4million Belgravia home, only weeks after it emerged she was embroiled in a legal battle over alleged rent arrears of £20,400. Her landlord, British Virgin Islands company Pridelands, claimed in court it had served Miss Dell’Olio notice to leave in November 2013 but that she had refused to move.
In an interview earlier this year Miss Dell’Olio denied any suggestion of financial hardship. She said: ‘It was always planned that I was leaving at the end of May. So it was my movers came to take my things. So you have to be precise. Everything was planned.
‘And I left when I was ready, when it was accordingly established to move.’
Asked if she owed £20,000, she replied: ‘I don’t think so.’ She added that she was not broke.
Miss Dell’Olio’s last serious relationship, with theatre director Sir Trevor Nunn, ended acrimoniously within a year of its starting in 2011.
Eriksson is her most famous partner, but described her as ‘unbearable’ in his memoir and admitted to numerous infidelities during his relationship with her.
‘Always planned that I was leaving at the end of May’