Princess Diana's iconic velvet gown becomes 'most valuable dress ever sold at auction'

A velvet gown worn by Princess Diana during a 1997 photoshoot with Vanity Fair months before her death went under the hammer and got sold for over $600,000 on Friday at an auction by Sotheby’s in New York. According to Forbes, the purple velvet dress was competed for by four excited bidders for nearly five minutes, and later went on to become the most valuable gown of the princess to be ever sold at an auction.

The final price, which includes fees, was $604,800, a figure that is five times higher than the pre-auction estimate. The gown became the most valuable dress of Princess Diana after it surpassed the $347,000 that was fetched during a sale of the iconic black gown that the royal had worn during a dance with actor John Travolta at the White House in 1985.

The purple gown sold on Friday is the work of British dressmaker Victor Edelstein, who collaborated with Princess Diana on multiple sartorial projects, including his Autumn 1989 collection. The sale of the dress dates back to 1997, when it was sold for the first time for $24,150 at a charity auction along with 78 other gowns sold by the royal to raise funds for AIDS and Cancer charities.

#AuctionUpdate: Sold! Princess Diana's iconic Ball Dress by Victor Edelstein achieves over $604K— nearly $500K over its high estimate— after rounds of fierce bidding in the #SothebysNewYork auction room. pic.twitter.com/ilSJYV4uTQ

— Sotheby's (@Sothebys)

Princess Diana's jewelry and clothes fetch sky-rocketing prices

She wore the dress the same year, during a Vanity Fair photoshoot with photographer Mario Testino. The princess was also spotted wearing the dress in a royal portrait shot in 1991 by Princess Margaret’s ex-husband Lord Snowdon. Even today, Princess Diana’s jewels and clothes continued to be perceived as prized possessions that fetch skyrocketing money at auctions.

Just last week, reality television star Kim Kardashian bought a $200,000 cross pendant at a Sotheby’s auction that was worn by Princess Diana at a charity event. In 2022, Diana’s dress that she wore during a trip to Bahrain in 1986 was sold for $200,000 after it was found at a local shop in England.