A purple velvet gown belonging to Princess Diana has fetched over $600,000 at a Sotheby's auction-- more than five times the amount estimated. The dress is now the most expensive of Diana's iconic gowns to ever be auctioned, according to Forbes magazine.
Princess Diana, one of the most popular fashion icons in history, wore the gown in a famous 1997 photoshoot with Vanity Fair as well as in a royal portrait shot by Princess Margaret’s husband Lord Snowdon in 1991.
The strapless ball gown is part of British fashion designer Victor Edelstein's 1989 Autumn collection. The aubergine-coloured gown featured a tulip skirt and was likely made especially for Diana, since the designer's sketch of it featured a tiara .
Edelstein would go on to design Diana's outfits for more than a decade.
"When I started designing for her she was just starting to move away from the first period of clothes -- what I think were rather like little girl’s clothes made bigger," he was quoted as saying on the Sotheby's website. "Her style became more sleek and sophisticated, and more grown up."
Among the famous dresses that Edelstein designed for Diana was the blue velvet gown she wore in 1985, while dancing with actor John Travolta during a visit to the White House.
The dress famously became known as “Travolta Dress”.
Diana sold nearly 80 dresses from her personal wardrobe, including her famous "revenge dress", to raise funds for AIDS and cancer charities in June, 1997.
Diana was married to Charles, who was the Prince of Wales till September, 2022. He became the king immediately after his mother Queen Elizabeth died.
The princess, a beloved public figure, died in August, 1997 in a car crash in Paris.
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