Ten ‘iconic’ Princess Diana dresses up for auction
The collection, due to go under the hammer on March 19, is believed to be worth at least £600,000 ($919,000, 687,000 euros), a spokeswoman for Kerry Taylor Auctions told AFP.
The auction house said the lots included some of the « most important and iconic » dresses worn by Prince Charles’s glamorous former wife, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi.
« Some of the gowns were worn for official state visits to Austria, Australia, Brazil, India, South Korea and the United States of America, » said the auction house, which specialises in vintage fashion sales.
« Diana was photographed wearing them by not only by the paparazzi, but by some of the leading photographers of the day — including Mario Testino and Lord Snowdon. »
The collection includes a midnight blue velvet gown by Victor Edelstein which Diana wore to a 1985 state dinner at the White House — where she twirled around the dance floor with « Saturday Night Fever » star Travolta.
« These elegant couture creations were made by some of her favourite designers — Zandra Rhodes, Catherine Walker, Bruce Oldfield and Victor Edelstein, » said Kerry Taylor Auctions.
« One of them, a dark green velvet dinner gown, has what appears to be the print of a small hand on the skirt — possibly that of a young prince? »
Diana, who became a global style icon and was famed for her charity work, wed heir to the throne Prince Charles in a lavish ceremony in 1981. They had two sons, William and Harry, but divorced in 1996.
At Diana’s request, the ten dresses were originally sold in a charity auction in New York in June 1997, just two months before she died.
Florida-based businesswoman Maureen Dunkel bought the dresses, along with four others. She was forced to put them up for auction in 2011 after she went bankrupt — but only four of them sold.
« The reserve prices were ridiculously high, » a Kerry Taylor spokeswoman told AFP.
« That sale was a bit of a disaster. But they are beautiful dresses. We have a good reputation for selling these things and the estimates are sensible, rooted in reality and obtainable. »
