It may not be as famous as the eye-catching “revenge dress”, but it’s a piece of eggplant-colored silk velvet and it’s still one of Princess Diana’s most iconic dresses.
The late princess wore the dress on an official royal occasion in 1991, and Vanity Fair magazine talked about it in 1997 after the princess donated it, just before her death, reports a local Arabic daily.
For the first time in more than 25 years, the Sotheby’s auction house in New York announced that the dress will be auctioned on January 27, and its price is expected to reach $120,000.
Designed by Victor Edelstein, the dress features a strapless, sweetheart neckline and tulip skirt. It last sold for $24,150 in 1997, during a Christie’s charity auction of 79 dresses donated by Diana.
The combined sales amounted to $3.25 million, benefiting AIDS and cancer charities, including the Royal Marsden Hospital, where the late princess served as president for eight years.
In the story “Vanity Fair”, written by Mario Testino, the magazine focused on the auction, describing Diana’s decision to sell the dresses as “a powerful symbol of changing her life” in the wake of her high-profile divorce from Prince Charles, as it meant “giving up a life that never was.”
But the Princess of Wales was more reserved in discussing her decision to sell the clothes, saying only that it was “a wrench to give up these beautiful dresses.”
“However, I am so happy that others can now share the joy I was wearing,” she had told the magazine.
