The last major sale of dresses from the collection of Diana, Princess of Wales was such a hit that Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills has decided to do it all over again. They’re offering several of Diana’s dresses in a sale that also includes other items of royal clothing and memorabilia next month in Los Angeles. Ahead of the sale, I’ve got an overview of the way that Diana paired these clothes with pieces from her jewelry collection.
Perhaps the most recognizable dress from the June sale is this one, made for Diana by the couturier Murray Arbeid in 1986. The dress was apparently commissioned for a specific event: a dinner given by King Constantine II of Greece at Claridge’s Hotel in London in July 1986. The dinner was a double celebration for the former Greek royal family, held in honor of the 21st birthday of Constantine’s eldest child, Princess Alexia, and the christening of his youngest, Prince Philippos. (Diana was one of Philippos’s godparents.)
The gown, made of midnight blue silk tulle, features a strapless neckline and a dropped waist. It is decorated with silver diamanté stars on the bodice and the ballerina-length skirt. The designer used deep purple silk tulle layers to add extra depth to the dress. The gown was purchased at Christie’s in London in June 1997 for $48,300 by Pat Kerr Tigrett, a bridal designer from Memphis, Tennessee. She later loaned it to Kensington Palace for the Diana: Her Fashion Story exhibition from 2017-2019. Now, Julian’s is selling the dress with an estimate of $200,000-$400,000.
Diana made her debut in the dress at Claridge’s for King Constantine’s private dinner on July 11, 1986. On that occasion, she paired the dress with bright pink gloves and diamond and sapphire jewels. She wore the double cluster sapphire earrings most recently seen on the present Princess of Wales, as well as her pearl choker with the large sapphire and diamond cluster clasp.
I think Diana’s second appearance in the gown may have taken place a few weeks later. On July 21, two days before the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of York, a dinner and ball were held in Windsor Great Park in the couple’s honor. I’ve not been able to track down photographs from the event, if any were published, but newspapers described Diana’s gown as “a stunning strapless blue gown sparkling with thousands of sequins.”
Later the same year, Diana wore the dress again, this time for a Royal Gala Performance of the musical The Phantom of the Opera in London. This time, she wore the same sapphire and diamond earrings but a different necklace. The choker features diamonds and sapphire on a blue velvet backing.
On December 16, 1987, Diana wore the dress again for a gala performance of Cinderella at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. She wore sapphires once again with the dress, but a different set entirely: the earrings, necklace, and bracelet gifted to her by the Sultan of Oman.
Also dating to the second half of the 1980s is this Spanish-inspired evening dress, made by Victor Edelstein for his fall 1986 collection. Diana wore numerous Edelstein dresses during her life, including the famous “Travolta dress.” This evening gown is made of black lace layered over magenta silk for a bronzed effect, a custom colorway produced specifically for Diana. The Julien’s auction catalogue notes that Diana would sometimes “attend the rehearsals of the show to preview the collections where she would discuss with [Edelstein] alternative versions of the designs for her to wear.”
The dress sold at Christie’s in London in July 1997 for $25,300. Like the spangled Murray Arbeid gown, it was purchased by Pat Kerr Tigrett and later loaned to Kensington Palace for the Diana: Her Fashion Story exhibition. The estimate for the gown’s sale at Julien’s is set at between $200,000-$400,000.
Diana wore the gown for the first time publicly on January 25, 1987. The occasion was the Arthur Rubenstein Centenary Concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London. With the dress, she wore button pearl earrings surrounded by a thin border of diamonds set in gold. She also added a long single strand of pearls, worn knotted over the bodice of her dress.
A few months later, in November 1987, Diana wore the dress for a reception during an official tour of Germany. This time, she wore another long strand of pearls (perhaps the same one) doubled up. She paired the pearls with the diamond and pearl drop earrings given to her as a wedding present by the Emir of Qatar.
This dress, featuring a similar silhouette, was made by the designer Caroline Charles. Julien’s states that the dress is “dark purple cotton velvet evening gown belonging to Princess Diana.” The dress was not included in the 1997 Christie’s sale in London, and Diana doesn’t seem to have been photographed wearing it in public. Accordingly, the estimate is set lower for this lot: $100,000-$200,000.
The next lot was also never photographed on Diana, but it was included in the Christie’s sale of her gowns in 1997. The black velvet and lace gown was made by one of Diana’s favorite designers, Catherine Walker. It sold for $24,150 in the Christie’s sale, also to Pat Kerr Tigrett. Julien’s expects it to bring between $100,000-$200,000 in the June sale.
Most of the rest of the clothing from Diana’s collection featured in the Julien’s sale was also made by Catherine Walker. Like the previous two examples, this navy blue silk velvet cocktail dress belonged to Diana, but she was never photographed wearing it. Julien’s has set its auction estimate between $20,000-$30,000.
This Catherine Walker skirt and jacket are considerably more familiar. The two-piece yellow and navy skirt suit was worn by Diana on multiple occasions in the 1989-90. Julien’s has set the auction estimate for the ensemble at $30,000-$50,000.
Diana debuted the skirt suit on November 10, 1989, during an official tour of Hong Kong. She paired the suit with gold earrings and a gold bracelet for a visit to the headquarters of the Red Cross, where she officially opened a new department of youth and welfare.
A few months later, on Valentine’s Day in 1990, Diana wore the suit with gold and pearl earrings in London to deliver a speech as she presented the Family of the Year Award on behalf of the charity Relate. Ironically, the speech extolled the virtues of marriage and the damaging effects of divorce.
Diana’s most prominent appearance in the skirt suit came in June 1991, when she wore it with gold earrings for Trooping the Colour in London. Her iconic sapphire engagement ring is also front-and-center in this photograph, taken as she rode in a carriage down the Mall with the Queen Mother and Prince Harry.
This casual day dress from Diana’s closet is also included in the Julien’s sale. The dress comes from Catherine Walker’s Chelsea Design Company label. Julien’s has its auction estimate set at $100,000-$200,000.
The auction estimate may seem high for a day dress rather than an evening gown, but Diana wore the dress on several moments that were more personal than official. On June 21, 1988–Prince William’s sixth birthday–Diana attended his school sports day at Richmond Stadium. Wearing the floral dress, she won the 50-yard dash parents’ race in her bare feet. Four years later, she was also photographed wearing the dress as she dropped Prince Harry off at his school in Notting Hill.
In August 1991, Diana was photographed wearing the dress as she left St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. She had been at the medical facility for several hours visiting a close friend, Adrian Ward-Jackson, an art dealer who had also served as governor of the Royal Ballet. Ward-Jackson was also an AIDS activist. He passed away from AIDS the day after Diana’s visit.
Clothing and other possessions belonging to various members of the royal family are also included in the Julien’s sale catalogue. Lot #160 is a piece of antique Victorian-era English lace. Julien’s has its estimate set remarkably low: $100-$200. By tradition, the lace is said to have surrounded Queen Alexandra’s bridal bouquet at her royal wedding in March 1863. The Morning Post indeed described Alexandra’s bouquet as having “a trimming of Honiton lace.” The bouquet does not feature in the couple’s wedding photos, which were taken several days after the actual ceremony.
The lace is accompanied by a handwritten note that reads, “Lace off Queen Alexandra’s wedding bouquet, which she gave on her arrival to Osborne House to Mrs. Smith, the housekeeper.” The auction catalogue clarifies that Elizabeth Smith was the housekeeper at Osborne from 1858 until 1869. After their wedding banquet at Windsor Castle, Edward and Alexandra headed to Osborne on the Isle of Wight for their honeymoon.
The auction at Julien’s also includes a charming little sailor dress and jacket that likely belonged to Edward and Alexandra’s second daughter, Princess Victoria. The outfit dates to 1872, the year that Toria turned four, and is marked with the initials “PV.” The ensemble was later owned by the Roberts family. John Roberts was the inspector of Windsor Castle during Queen Victoria’s reign, and his wife, Keziah, worked in the royal nursery. Their daughter, Mary Ann, was a dressmaker who made clothes for members of the royal family, including Princess Victoria. Members of Mary Ann’s family sold the sailor suit at Christie’s in February 1987. This time around, Julien’s expects the outfit to sell for $500-$700.
There are several more interesting lots in the Julien’s auction, but I’ll wrap things up today with this famous dress from the collection of the Duchess of Windsor. The dress, cream silk crepe with beaded embellishment, was made by the French couturier Hubert de Givenchy. Julien’s has set the auction estimate for the dress at $4,000-$6,000.
Wallis famously wore the dress with diamond and ruby earrings for a dinner at the White House given in honor of the Windsors in April 1970. The dinner was reportedly the brainchild of President Nixon’s younger daughter, Julie Eisenhower, who had studied British history at school. The Daily Telegraph wrote, “Invitations to the dinner had been long and widely sought. The Windsors are extremely popular, especially in American high society. It is a measure of their standing that the occasion recalled a formal affair of state–even to the extent that the Duke and Duchess spent the night at Blair House, the official residence of visiting Heads of State.”
As a gift, Julie Eisenhower presented the Duke with a mug that had been made for his planned coronation, a ceremony that went ahead with his brother, King George VI, on the throne instead. The Duke delivered a speech at the dinner in which he paid tribute to the “wonderful American girl who consented to be married to me.” Buckingham Palace appears to have decided not to offer a comment on the event.
All of these pieces and more will be offered for sale at Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles on June 27. Bidding on some items is already open online, and the auction house promises that additional items will be added to the sale. Will Diana’s dresses fetch the kinds of enormous sums that they brought in last time around? We’ll have to wait and see.
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