Dress worn by Princess Diana sells for record $1.15 million
The black and blue evening dress sold for more than 11 times the expected price, a sign of Diana's enduring charm more than a quarter of century after her death. She wore the ballerina-length evening dress to a 1985 dinner hosted by the mayor of Florence, Italy, and again to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra the following year. On Sunday, this dress, which belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales, sold at auction for nearly $1.15 million, a record amount for one of her dresses.
The piece, created by Jacques Azagury, the Moroccan-British fashion designer, was "synonymous with the royal elegance and eternal grace of the Princess of Wales", the house said in a statement of Hollywood auction Julien's Auctions, noting that it had sold more than 11 times. what the auction house predicted it would fetch.
The dress was sold with a matching illustration that detailed its black velvet bodice embroidered with metallic stars, a two-tiered pattern. royal blue organza skirt with a belt and bow (a nod to Diana's love of dancing) and one of her signature looks: shoulder pads.
“The fact that this dress, all these years later, is worth this amount – I think people keep going to be impressed by her and her fashion,” Elizabeth Holmes, a fashion critic and royal family style expert, said in an interview Monday. "Diana has remained a fashion icon."
The sale of the dress took place under the name "The Crown", the opulent Netflix series about the British royal family that has renewed its interest in the lives of Princess Diana and her children — is airing its final season. Several of the series' 60 episodes focus on the princess and the controversies of the years leading up to her death in a car accident in 1997.
The series also features her famous clothes. Diana, one of the most photographed women in the world at the time, knew her fashion would be observed by millions and went from a modest young woman to a glamorous international celebrity.
"She knew the power of an image," said Ms. Holmes, the fashion critic, describing how Diana used fashion to communicate with viewers and draw attention to the charities she she maintained – although her public discourse was limited. When Diana wore the ballerina dress in the 1980s, the princess had truly begun to lean into her personal style, taking risks with shorter hemlines, lower necklines and bold silhouettes, Ms. Holmes said. “You can see it in this dress,” she added. "You can place it in time."
The black and blue evening dress sold for more than 11 times the expected price, a sign of Diana's enduring charm more than a quarter of century after her death. She wore the ballerina-length evening dress to a 1985 dinner hosted by the mayor of Florence, Italy, and again to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra the following year. On Sunday, this dress, which belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales, sold at auction for nearly $1.15 million, a record amount for one of her dresses.
The piece, created by Jacques Azagury, the Moroccan-British fashion designer, was "synonymous with the royal elegance and eternal grace of the Princess of Wales", the house said in a statement of Hollywood auction Julien's Auctions, noting that it had sold more than 11 times. what the auction house predicted it would fetch.
The dress was sold with a matching illustration that detailed its black velvet bodice embroidered with metallic stars, a two-tiered pattern. royal blue organza skirt with a belt and bow (a nod to Diana's love of dancing) and one of her signature looks: shoulder pads.
“The fact that this dress, all these years later, is worth this amount – I think people keep going to be impressed by her and her fashion,” Elizabeth Holmes, a fashion critic and royal family style expert, said in an interview Monday. "Diana has remained a fashion icon."
The sale of the dress took place under the name "The Crown", the opulent Netflix series about the British royal family that has renewed its interest in the lives of Princess Diana and her children — is airing its final season. Several of the series' 60 episodes focus on the princess and the controversies of the years leading up to her death in a car accident in 1997.
The series also features her famous clothes. Diana, one of the most photographed women in the world at the time, knew her fashion would be observed by millions and went from a modest young woman to a glamorous international celebrity.
"She knew the power of an image," said Ms. Holmes, the fashion critic, describing how Diana used fashion to communicate with viewers and draw attention to the charities she she maintained – although her public discourse was limited. When Diana wore the ballerina dress in the 1980s, the princess had truly begun to lean into her personal style, taking risks with shorter hemlines, lower necklines and bold silhouettes, Ms. Holmes said. “You can see it in this dress,” she added. "You can place it in time."
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