Princess Diana’s Jacques Azagury Evening Dress Fetches Record-breaking $1.1 Million at Julien’s Auction
One of Princess Diana’s evening dresses broke auction records on Sunday, achieving $1.1 million — 11 times its estimate. Julien’s sold the Jacques Azagury piece, which the late Princess of Wales wore while touring Italy in 1985. To date, it’s the most expensive of Princess Diana’s dresses to sell at auction.
Featuring shoulder pads and a black velvet bodice embroidered with metallic stars, the dress’ two-tier, royal blue organza ballerina skirt nods to Diana’s love of dance and her patronage of The English National Ballet. The frock was previously displayed as part of a royal fashion exhibit at Kensington Palace in 2013.
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Throughout her reign, the princess would go on to wear several Azagury creations. The British-Moroccan designer famously dreamed up the crystallized pale blue minidress Diana wore during one of her final public engagements in June 1997.
Julien’s recent auction, held in collaboration with Turner Classic Movies, also saw the sale of one of Diana’s blouses — specifically, the pink ruffled chiffon top worn in her engagement portrait. It was designed by Elizabeth and David Emanuel, who also crafted the princess’ iconic silk taffeta wedding dress. On Sunday, the shirt sold for $381,000, five times the original estimate.
Like Diana’s Azagury dress, her blush blouse was also exhibited at Kensington Palace. “Diana: Her Fashion Story” ran from 2017 to 2019.
Subtitled “Hollywood Legends,” Julien’s four-day event was the company’s most successful Hollywood memorabilia auction in its 20-year history, netting over $7 million. A record of more than 16,500 bids were placed from several countries including the United States, South Korea and Austria. Bidders participated live at Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles, as well as online and via phone.
It’s been a banner year for Princess Diana-related artifacts: in May, her famous Warm & Wonderful sheep sweater sold for $1.1 million at Sotheby’s; last month, a replica of the royal’s Philadelphia Eagles bomber jacket — signed by Kylie Kelce, wife of team center Jason Kelce — raked in $100,000 at a charity auction in support of the Eagles Autism Foundation.
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