Princess Diana dress sells for record £900,000 at auction
A dress worn by Diana, Princess of Wales in 1985 has been sold at auction for 11 times its estimated price.
The black, ballerina-length velvet evening dress was sold at Julien’s Auctions in Hollywood for a total of $1,148,080 (£904,262).
It has broken a new fashion record as the most expensive dress, worn by Diana, sold at auction.
The gown, which came with a matching illustration, was estimated to sell for $100,000 (£78,776).
It features shoulder pads, a blue organza skirt, a large bow, and a sash.
Diana first wore the dress in Florence, Italy in 1985 at a dinner while on a royal tour with her then-husband Charles, Prince of Wales, and again to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 1986.
The collector’s item was constructed with fabric chosen by world-renowned textile merchant Jakob Schlaepfer and featured metallic embroidered stars carefully threaded by the design team at Jacques Azagury.
The ballerina skirt was considered a nod to her patronage of the English National Ballet and her love of dance.
Previously, the most expensive dress worn by Diana and sold at auction was a 1991 velvet gown by Victor Edelstein which sold for $604,800 (£476,437) in January.
That means Diana’s Jacques Azagury gown has nearly doubled the gap between first and second place.
Diana wore several designed by the Moroccan-British fashion designer pieces during her time with the royal family.
Other items on sale at the TCM Present: Hollywood Legends auction include a blouse worn by Diana for her engagement portrait in 1981.
The pink crepe blouse has a ruff-like collar and loose pleats to the front and was captured on film by royal photographer Lord Snowdon.
It sold for $381,000 (£300,990), nearly four times its original estimate of $80,000 (£63,000).
Hollywood stars’ clothes also up for auction included a Givenchy dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1963 comedy Charade, a sleeveless gown worn by Gloria Swanson in the 1950 noir film Sunset Boulevard and Barbra Streisand’s sailor dress from a 1960s special called My Name Is Barbra.