Faking It

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Damien Hirst did a little internet shopping and ended up blowing some $160,000 of his pickled shark money on vintage British punk clothing, which has been found to be fake. Since Damien purchased them to exhibit, he had Malcolm McLaren, who created the clothing with Vivienne Westwood in the 1970s for the line Sex + Seditionaries, come over to authenticate it all. Said McLaren of the find: "Seeing these clothes, I said, 'Wow, they've gone to great lengths to manufacture the labels, and distress the fabrics.' But clearly they were not the fabrics we used 35 years ago, and the stitching was totally different." Now they've got Christie's auction house on the case, trying to protect their own upcoming auction. [NYDN]