One of the dresses was the velvet Victor Edelstein gown which Lady Di donned when grooving to the 'Saturday Night Fever' music with John Travolta at the State Dinner at the White House in 1985.
- Mar 20, 2013
AceShowbiz - A collection of Princess Diana's most memorable evening gowns went under the hammer in London for 800,000 pounds or an estimated $1.2 million. The dresses sold included the one which the late royal wore while dancing with John Travolta to the classic "Saturday Night Fever" tune.
The famous velvet, midnight-blue, off-shoulder gown by Victor Edelstein was sold for 240,000 pounds or $362,424. Lady Di donned it when coming to the White House for a gala dinner hosted by President Ronald Reagan during her first joint visit to the States with Prince Charles in 1985.
The iconic dress has traded hands three times. It was first auctioned in New York by Diana herself along with dozens of her other outfits to raise money for charity, at the suggestion of her son Prince William, just three months before she was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997.
It was bought along with some others of Lady Di's dresses by Florida socialite Maureen Dunkel who was forced to put it on auction again in Canada in 2011 to pay off her debt.
In the most recent auction in London, the gown was purchased by an anonymous British gentleman "who said he wanted to buy it as a surprise to cheer up his wife," auctioneer Kerry Taylor said. "I hope the sale has really made someone's day."
The sale of the navy blue dress came slightly below the expected maximum price of 300,000 pounds, but it still fetched the highest price among ten of Di's outfits that were sold to the bidders.
Two dresses by Diana's favorite designer Catherine Walker went for 108,000 pounds each. They were a black velvet and beaded gown the princess worn for a Vanity Fair photo shoot by Mario Testino at Kensington Palace in 1997, and a burgundy crushed velvet gown she donned at the film premiere of "Back to the Future" in 1985.
Other sold items "Fit for a Princess" that represented "a little history of Diana's life through her clothes" included a velvet Bruce Oldfield dress Lady Di worn for her official portrait in 1985. Among them, it was a green velvet Edelstein evening gown that sold for the cheapest price, $36,280.
