On June 5, 1985, Ferris Bueller, the most legendary truant in American film history, captivated audiences with his unforgettable day off in John Hughes’ timeless classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Forty years later, Bueller remains the most popular teenager to have never existed. Now, to mark the anniversary of that eventful hooky day, one of the film’s most recognizable artifacts – the signature sweater vest worn by Matthew Broderick as Ferris Bueller – is being auctioned in a single-lot online auction at Sotheby’s New York on June 24.
Open for bidding starting today, the screen-used vest carries a pre-sale estimate of $300,000 – 600,000 and will be on public view at Sotheby’s New York galleries from 5 – 24 June. This iconic piece of movie memorabilia comes to auction from the personal collection of Emmy-Award winning sports business reporter, cllct founder and memorabilia collector, Darren Rovell.
There are few costumes in Hollywood history that are instantly recognizable, and this is undeniably one of them. For the discerning collector, it possesses all the hallmarks of greatness: exceptional preservation, iconic status, and unquestionable authenticity. In an industry where provenance is often contested, this piece stands apart — not only photomatched but also personally inspected and confirmed by the film’s costume designer, Marilyn Vance, four decades later. As we approach the anniversary, I feel this is the perfect moment to pass this legendary vest on to another passionate fan and devoted collector.
Darren Rovell
As Ferris (Matthew Broderick), Cameron (Alan Ruck) and Sloane (Mia Sara) traverse around Chicago over the course of a single school day, each character in the film only appears in a single costume. This left frequent Hughes collaborator and renowned American costume designer, Marilyn Vance, with just one opportunity to communicate through fashion the effortless, happy-go-lucky effusive charm that made Bueller the “righteous dude” and paragon of late-80’s adolescent cool he has become.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was Vance’s fourth collaboration with writer-director John Hughes, the filmmaker whose name is now synonymous with depicting adolescent culture of the 1980s on screen. Having costumed two of Hughes’ biggest successes—The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink—in the previous few years, Vance was well-versed in Hughes’s character-first, plot-second style of writing and directing. Bueller wearing a sweater vest was actually one of Vance’s first ideas for designing the character’s costume. Bueller’s universal popularity at his suburban Illinois high school stemmed from his ability to unite his peers against a common enemy: the adult world and its rules. Thus, Vance’s design for Bueller needed to be different from the norm in an era defined by mainstream style. The only roadblock was that Vance simply couldn’t find a vest that felt right for her vision of Ferris. In previous interviews, Vance recalls finding the camel and chocolate brown sweater with its striking geometric pattern reminiscent of leopard print at Marshall Field’s, and cutting the sleeves off.
Retro enough to feel offbeat but still cool, with a subtle rebellious edge, the sweater vest became a key element of Bueller’s costume, especially during the memorable “Twist and Shout” parade and Wrigley Field sequences. The only real expression of color in Bueller’s entire wardrobe, Vance’s sweater vest immediately became the character’s signature piece and emblematic of his most exciting quality—the ability to blend in anywhere, while standing out just enough to get exactly what you want from the world around you.
With that single decision to chop the sleeves off a ready-to-wear cardigan for Broderick’s Bueller, Vance created an indelible film style moment for one of the most beloved American comedies of all time.
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