More than 25 years after her death, Princess Diana paradoxically remains one of the most current style icons of the 2020s.
Millennials and Gen Z-ers religously pore over her past outfits, adding pictures of her sweatshirt and cycle short combos to their moodboards, reposting her revenge dress every time it hits an important anniversary (November of this year will be its 29th) and searching through her extensive knitwear collection to find autumnal inspo.
Now, an actual piece of that knitwear is going on sale, and it’s an iconic one. Sotheby’s has announced it will be auctioning off Princess Diana’s black sheep jumper — which features a singular black sheep amongst its flock, stitched onto a red background — as part of its inaugural Fashion Icons sale from August 31 to September 14 , and it’s expected to reach as much as £70,000.
A brief fashion history lesson: Diana first wore the jumper to a polo match in June 1981, where she sat with Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, and watched on as a young Prince Charles played. The event was just a month before her and Charles’ wedding. According to Tatler, “at the time, some royal commentators interpreted the ‘black sheep’ message as a comment on how Diana was feeling about her place within the monarchy.”
It was an instant hit back in 1981 and helped to catapult its creators, Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne, and their knitwear label, Warm and Wonderful, to mass popularity. They stopped producing the jumper in 1994, though Emma Corrin did wear a replica as part of their role as Princess Diana in The Crown season four back in 2020.
“Much to our amazement, the first we knew of Lady Diana Spencer wearing the sweater was when we saw her on the front page of one of the Sunday newspapers,” the designers told Tatler. “Her influence was impactful almost immediately thereafter, leading to a surge in sales and public awareness of our small label, for which we will be forever grateful.”
Then, all of a sudden, they found the original. “This past March, as we were rummaging through the attic searching for an old pattern, we spotted a small box,” they said. “Inside, tucked away beside a cotton bedspread was Diana’s original red sheep sweater from 1981.”
The designers passed the sweater onto Sotheby’s New York, who will put it up for auction later this summer, and expect to fetch around £40,000-£70,000 for the garment.
“This exceptional garment, meticulously preserved, carries the whispers of Princess Diana’s grace, charm, and her keen eye for fashion,” says Cynthia Houlton, Sotheby's Global Head of Fashion and Accessories. “It’s an honour to offer this historic sweater in our inaugural Fashion Icons auction, placing it in dialogue with other memorable and culturally important items of clothing.”
