Clothing sale will be 'largest Princess Diana auction ever'

RTÉ News​

03-06-2025

An auction featuring more than 200 items will be the "largest Princess Diana auction ever", according to its director.
Julien's Auctions' Princess Diana's Style And A Royal Collection live sale will take place in California on Thursday 26 June and will include clothing worn by the late Diana, Princess of Wales, with the aim of celebrating her style and preserving her legacy.
Items include a silk floral printed day dress designed by Bellville Sassoon, estimated to fetch between 200,000 and 300,000 US dollars, and an embroidered evening gown, designed by Catherine Walker, with the same estimated selling price.
Martin Nolan, co-founder of Julien's Auctions, told the PA news agency: "This is the largest Princess Diana auction ever. Diana herself did an auction in 1997 to raise money for charity, sadly two months before we tragically lost Diana.
"So now we have over 100 items representing her amazing life and her career, and of course, she's the mum of the future king of England, Prince William, so we have really iconic outfits.
"Diana was a style icon, she knew what to wear, when to wear it, what was appropriate, she knew how to send a message by what she was wearing.
"She was very shy, but she knew by the items of clothing, it became sort of her uniform if you will and, of course, with all the amazing power suits you see behind me, the message she sent.
"She knew how to dress when she went on a royal visit to Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab Emirates, and when she was going to a hospital, she knew to wear bright colours that sick children would feel that she was likeable, huggable, approachable, and she brought hope wherever she went."
Up for auction will be a collection of clothes and artefacts from British royal history, including items that belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and other members of the royal family, some dating as far back as the 19th century.
Nolan said the market for items relating to Diana had increased thanks to Netflix series The Crown.
He said: " The Crown certainly has introduced Diana to a whole new younger generation, and they relate to her and they love her, and they love her style, they love her innocence, they love her sense of fun.
"They love her messaging, and they love what she had to live through, the challenges she had to deal with, and she overcame them all, and so it's a success story.
"Sad ending, of course, but like the younger generation loved that, and that's why Diana's prices have been impacted so much and are increasing more and more."
Elizabeth Emanuel, who designed a number of items of clothing for Diana, including her wedding dress, said: "When Diana first came to us for all of these dresses, she didn't have a lot of ideas of her own, because fashion wasn't her number one subject.
"She didn't really take much of an interest in it, and we were very lucky to have been involved with her at the beginning, when she was developing her own style.
"And then over the years, you could see her being more and more confident in what she was wearing and knowing her own style, so we were very lucky to have been there in the formative years."
Julien's Auctions held a sale of Diana's items last year, billed as the most extensive collection of Diana's personal belongings since 1997.
The auction house previously sold one of Diana's gowns for 1.14 million US dollars and a pair of her shoes for 390,000 US dollars.
The live auction will take place at The Peninsula Beverly Hills, California, in the US, on Thursday 26 June.