Celebrity items can go for a pretty penny at auction, but items belonging to British darling Princess Diana, whose untimely death forever memorialized the royal family member and charity spokeswoman may take the cake. Ten dresses belonging to the late Princess were auctioned off on Tuesday via Kerry Taylor Auctions and ended up fetching $1.2 million at auction.
The impressive auction sought bidders from across the world, honing in on continents like Asia and countries from the UK to the US and Australia. Ten dresses were eventually auctioned off with the most notable being a dress the “People’s Princess” wore during a 1985 event at the White House, at which she was photographed dancing with John Travolta. According to Reuters, that dark blue gown made of velvet brought in a whopping $362,470 when auctioned. Three museums even participated in this little slice of history.
Princess Diana’s clothing auction follows a long tradition of auctioning off famous people’s stuff. Some of Whitney Houston’s stuff was famously auctioned off in a potentially “too soon” situation after her death. Other examples of a famous auctions include Elizabeth Taylor’s jewels, a see-through dress once worn by Kate Middleton, and the famous gingham dress Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz. While all of those auctions were iconic in one way or another, Princess Diana’s dresses certainly offer a bit more history, and the museum sales reflect that.
