Editor’s Note
This article remembers Doris Brynner (1931-2025), a Croatian-born socialite and style icon. As the wife of actor Yul Brynner, she moved in elite mid-century circles, her distinctive look and bearing evoking a glamorous, bygone era.
Doris Brynner (1931-2025), with her impeccably styled hair, authoritative bearing, and voluminous colored stone jewelry, was a figure of a bygone era. Described as a “woman of the world” and a “jet-set icon,” this Croatian-born woman was raised in Chile.
She was the wife of Russian-American actor Yul Brynner, one of John Sturges’ “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), and a member of an elite circle that combined chic with celebrity (Richard Burton, Lee Radziwill, Marella Agnelli…). She was successively a model for Pierre Cardin, a sales representative for Valentino’s best Roman clients, and the owner of decoration boutiques in Switzerland (La Véranda, DB Décoration).
She joined Dior in 1997, where she led the Home department with a firm hand. There, she developed collaborations with Murano glassmakers and deployed a traditional refinement, all in porcelain and silverware. Almost a year after her death, Sotheby’s Paris branch is unveiling nearly 300 personal lots from her Paris apartment and her Lausanne home, in the form of a public exhibition followed by an auction.
Homage to Doris Brynner – “From Doris with Love: The Personal World of Doris Brynner,” exhibition at Sotheby’s, 83 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, Paris 8th. From January 23 to 26. Sales on January 27 (on-site) and January 28 (online).