A tulip-shaped, aubergine velvet strapless gown worn by the late Diana, Princess of Wales, in a royal portrait alongside the-then Prince of Wales in 1991, and which later appeared in a Vanity Fair shoot in 1997, will be sold during a Sotheby’s auction in New York on Jan. 27.
With an estimated value between $80,000 and $120,000, the dress, designed by Victor Edelstein, was previously sold for $24,150 as part of the 1997 auction that comprised 80 dresses from Princess Diana’s personal collection to benefit the AIDS Crisis Trust and the Royal Marsden Hospital Cancer Fund.
The dress originally appeared in Edelstein’s fall 1989 collection. He was one of the go-to designers for Princess Diana for over a decade, from 1982 to 1993.
In 1991, British painter Douglas Hardinge Anderson depicted Diana wearing the dress in a painting now hung at the Royal Marsden Hospital Cancer Fund, which she visited.
The dress was later featured on Franklin Mint’s 1998 limited edition Princess Diana doll, as part of a collection of 1,000 dolls wearing her most famous dresses.
The dress is part of Sotheby’s inaugural curated auction “The One,” which aims to present an unprecedented selection of the finest products in history.