Dress worn by Princess Diana in 1985 breaks record at auction
NEW YORK -- A dress first worn by Princess Diana in 1985 has sold for a record $1.148 million at auction, 11 times its estimate.
The blue and black dress, designed by Moroccan-British fashion designer Jacques Azagury, is now the most expensive dress worn by the princess to be sold at auction, smashing the previous record of $604,800, Los Angeles auction house Julien's Auctions said in a statement.
Diana wore the dress, which features a black velvet bodice embroidered with stars, in the Italian city of Florence in April 1985, and in Vancouver, Canada in May 1986.
The dress was sold along with a matching illustration as part of Julien's "Hollywood Legends" auction, which ended Sunday.
The sale also featured a blush-pink chiffon blouse worn by Diana in her engagement portrait in 1981. It sold for $381,000, almost four times its estimate.
Earlier this year, a quirky wool sweater adorned with sheep set a record both for the most expensive sweater ever sold at auction and the highest price paid for a garment worn by Diana, fetching $1.143 million at an auction in New York. Diana wore the sweater in 1981, while she was engaged to King Charles III, then the heir to the British throne.
