Two of Princess Diana’s dresses went under the hammer at a ‘Passion for Fashion’ event at a vintage auction house called Kerry Tayor Auctions in London last week.
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The first item was a green and black tartan coat dress by Emmanuel was worn by the Princess in the 1980s and was once unkindly described by press as a ‘horse blanket’.
Princess Diana, Princess of Wales, was snapped in the controversial outfit twice. The first time on a gondola ride in Venice with Prince Charles in 1985 and another time to go and pick up her two young sons from the airport.
Princess Diana's Emanuel couture teal tartan ensemble was specially commissioned for her visit to Italy with Prince Charles (Photo: Kerry Taylor Auctions/Instagram)
The dress ended up in a second-hand shop in Hampshire in 1990 after Susan Barrantes, mother of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, dropped it off there. But the designer confirmed there was only one of these outfits ever made so the purchaser made a tidy profit as it was sold for just over $17,000.
However, the show stopper gown was an 1980s puff-sleeved teal sequinned dress which had been commissioned by Catherine Walker who was one of Diana’s favourite designers.
This Catherine Walker sea-green sequined evening gown is a stunner! (Photo: Kerry Taylor Auctions/Instagram)
Diana wore the teal gown to a charity ball in May 1989. The glamorous puff-sleeved sequin dress sold for over A$155,000. This quintessentially 1980s gown was last sold at auction in 1997 for roughly $58,000. Next it went to an Austrian collector in 2013 for $145,000 which means this stunning dress has tripled in value in less than 20 years.
Diana had many glamorous gowns. Which one is your favourite?
The anniversary of Diana’s death is next year, in 2017, so for now the British institution who bought the dresses have asked to remain anonymous.
2017 will mark the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death
(Featured image CC Gegodeju via Wikimedia Commons)
What are your favourite memories of Princess Diana? Comment below.