One of the late Princess of Wales’s dresses has been sold at an auction for more than 11 times the estimated selling price.
The dress sold for $1,148,080… setting a new record for the highest sum paid for an article of clothing once worn by Princess Diana.
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The dress to break the record was a gown designed by Jacques Azagury. The midi-length dress was royal blue and black and was seen on the princess at least twice.
Diana wore the dress while on tour in April 1985 with then-Prince Charles at a dinner held by the mayor of Florence, Italy.
The second occasion Diana was seen in the dress was in May 1986 at Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre, watching a performance by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Princess Diana’s fashion clearly remains influential, and the price for her archival clothing continues to rise.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Kim Kardashian dropped a cool $285,000 on Diana’s ‘Attalah Cross’ necklace at auction, whilst private letters exchanged between Diana and her former husband, the now King Charles were sold for $170,000.
Then, in June, her iconic sheep jumper was found over 40 years since it first went missing, with an expected sale price of $133,000 Australian dollars when it goes to auction in September this year.
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Back in September, three of Princess Diana’s most iconic gowns, designed by Di’s most loved designers- Bruce Oldfield and Catherine Walker – were sold for an incredible $2.5 AUD million at a Beverley Hills auction.
The gowns – which were last seen in public more than 30 years ago – were collectively expected to sell for over one million dollars.
Whilst this initial estimate was high, the price point was no huge surprise when first announced given previous belongings of the “people’s princess” have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Shortly after her tragic death in August 1997, British auction house Christie’s offered the gowns up for sale.
Some 26 years on, the gowns were offered up for sale once more by Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies in its Legends: Hollywood and Royalty sale.
Whilst numerous items (1400 in fact) were available at the auction – including a Givenchy dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Di’s dresses predictably drew the highest bids.
Executive Director of the auction house, Martin Nolan said the record breaking sales “exceeded all expectations.”
The first two gowns were designed by Catherine Walker.
One being a strapless white silk crepe gown, with black silk velvet bands that Diana wore to a private function. It was expected to sell for between $90,000 and $120,000 AUD and sold for an incredible $796,070.
The second gown designed by Catherine is an off-the-shoulder garment, with a black faille bodice, décolleté neckline, and draped jade silk skirt with fringed sash and side. It was expected to sell for between $150,000 and $300,000 AUD, and ended up fetching $895,580.
The final gown, designed by Bruce Oldfield for Diana to wear to the London premiere of Hot Shots! is a scarlet-red gown, and sold for $895,547, despite being expected to sell for between $300,000 and $600,000 AUD.
