A black velvet cocktail dress worn by the then Princess of Wales in 1993 has been sold for $325,000 (£256,000) in Los Angeles.
Created for a private event by Catherine Walker, one of Diana’s favourite designers, the knee-length gown with nautical-inspired accents far exceeded its initial estimate at auction of $100,000-$200,000.
The dress was part of the Unstoppable: Signature Styles of Iconic Women in Fashion sale at Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills and sold for the same amount as a green tweed Givenchy dress Princess Grace of Monaco wore in 1961 to meet US President John F Kennedy and his wife Jackie. It had also surpassed the expected $60,000-$80,000.
More modern pieces going under the hammer included the three-tiered pink tutu worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in the opening credits of Sex and the City,, which raised $52,000, and a Burberry trench coat worn by Whitney Houston while performing at the 2008 Mawazine Music Festival in Morocco, which sold for $3,840.
Lots also included clothes and jewellery worn by stars including Cher, Dame Joan Collins, Kim Kardashian and Anne Hathaway, while from the world of film came a custommade dog coat worn by Bruiser the chihuahua in 2001’s Le
