Potentially because of The Crown’s influence (the show’s sixth and final season was released in two parts, with the first four episodes primarily focused on Princess Diana and the final summer of her life), one of Diana’s dresses just sold at auction for a record-breaking sum: $1.1 million, a whopping 11 times its estimated price.
Julien’s Auctions announced this week that Diana’s ballerina-length evening gown by Moroccan-British designer Jacques Azagury sold for $1,148,080; its original estimate was $100,000 (which seemed high enough pre-auction!). The identity of the buyer is heretofore unknown.
Diana originally wore the creation in Florence, Italy in April 1985, and then again to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 1986, People reports. This sale nearly doubles the previous world record for the most expensive dress worn by Diana to be auctioned, the outlet reports; the previous record was set earlier this year when a purple evening gown by Victor Edelstein sold for $604,800.
But back to the Jacques Azagury number: “The dress with padded shoulder pads features a black velvet bodice with embroidered stars in metallic thread made from Jakob Schlaepher fabric with a two-tier royal blue organza skirt with a sash and bow,” Julien’s Auctions shared. “The ballerina skirt was the perfect nod to Diana’s love of dance and her being a patron of The English National Ballet.”
Marie Claire reported last month about a blush pink chiffon blouse by David and Elizabeth Emanuel that Diana wore for her 1981 engagement portrait—it sold in the same auction for $381,000, nearly four times its original estimate of $80,000, further cementing that Diana fever is still prevalent.
Diana wore several gowns by Azagury during her royal life, and the designer shared a close relationship with the former Princess of Wales. “The whole collection means a lot to me, and the only reason I am selling them is because, as of five weeks ago, I retired,” he told People. “I really wanted people to keep enjoying these iconic dresses and ideally to keep the whole collection together.”
He added that Diana was “always very excited by fashion, and she knew she would please so many people just waiting for her to come out in the next dress, whether they were waiting in the streets or watching her on the television. She took a long time making sure that everything was just right, choosing the right shoes and jewelry.”
Included with some of the dresses Azagury is sharing with the public are sketches and personal handwritten notes from Diana herself—but he isn’t giving it all away, he said: “One of the most precious things that I have is a framed picture that the princess sent me the morning she was leaving for France, from which she never returned,” Azagury said, adding that he arrived at his shop to find a member of her staff waiting with a parcel. “Inside was a framed picture of Diana wearing three of the famous five dresses, with a message saying, ‘To Jacques, lots of love, Diana.’ That I will be keeping all for myself.”
