Princess Diana dress auction: As gown sells for record £900,000, when did she wear it?

A dress that Diana, Princess of Wales wore was expected to sell at auction for $100,000 (£78,776), but has instead sold for $1,148,080 (£904,262). The evening dress which was made of velvet and featured a blue organza skirt, bow and sash was designed by Jacques Azagury, and was sold at Julien’s Auctions in Hollywood. 

The BBC reported that “It has broken a new fashion record as the most expensive dress, worn by Diana, sold at auction” The second most expensive dress worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, was a 1991 gown by the designer Victor Edelstein that sold for $604,800 (£476,437) in January of this year. 

Princess Diana wore the Jacques Azagury dress whilst she was on a royal tour with her then husband, Charles, Prince of Wales, in Florence, Italy in 1985. She also wore it again in 1986 to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. 

The Jacques Azagury dress was not the only item of Diana, Princess of Wales, that was sold at Julien’s Auctions in Hollywood. The blouse she wore for her engagement portrait in 1981 sold for $381 000 (£300,990), the estimate for it was $80,000 (£63,000).

Princess Diana’s engagement blouse was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel, who also designed Diana’s wedding dress. Martin Nolan, the co-founder and executive director of Julien’s Auctions told The Telegraph that “It has only faded slightly over the years,” he says. “I wore gloves when I touched this blouse but I could instantly picture a young Diana wearing it.”

In their book ‘A Dress for Diana,’ David and Elizabeth Emanuel explained that “One day, we received a phone call from Vogue telling us that they were doing a feature on upcoming beauties and wondering … whether we could help them out with any suitable clothes for the photoshoot.” 

After one of their clients ended up getting mascara on a pink skirt they had custom made for her, David and Elizabeth Emanuel made her a new one rather than get it cleaned. They made a blouse to match and this was the sample that was sent to Vogue that ended up as Princess Diana’s engagement blouse. 

According to the Emanuels, “When Diana saw our blouse on the rack she fell in love with it, asked who had made it, and was directed to us.” They also revealed that “That was the beginning of our relationship with Diana.”