She wore the dress to a 1985 dinner hosted by the mayor of Florence and, a year later, wore it again to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. This past Sunday, that suit that belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales, was sold at auction for almost $1.15 million, a figure eleven times higher than what Julien's Auctions had estimated.
The dress, designed by Moroccan-British fashion designer Jacques Azagury, was “synonymous with the royal elegance possessed by the Princess of Wales and her timeless charm,” the Hollywood auction house said in a statement. This was the same one that estimated that the design could reach the figure of 100,000 dollars, a figure that was far exceeded after an anonymous buyer ended up paying 1,148,080 dollars. It should be noted that, until now, the most that had been raised for a Lady Di dress was $604,800.
According to Julien's Auctions' description, Azagury's design features a black velvet bodice with large shoulder pads and stars embroidered in metallic thread made from Jakob Schlaepher fabric and a royal blue organza skirt with a sash and ballerina bow, a detail with that Diana of Wales wanted to wink at her devotion to classical dance.
“The fact that this dress, after so many years, is selling for this amount means that people are still in awe of her and her style,” said Elizabeth Holmes, a critic and fashion expert. “Diana remains a fashion icon,” she concluded.
The record sale of this suit coincides with the premiere of 'The Crown', the Netflix series about the British royal family. In this final season, several episodes are dedicated to the princess and the controversies of the years prior to her death in a car accident in 1997.
The same auction house also sold on Sunday the blouse that Diana wore in 1981 for her engagement portrait with Prince Charles; a design by the Emanuels - the same designers who created her wedding dress - that fetched a price of $381,000.
