Princess Diana's 'caring' dress sells for over $500K at auction
Princess Diana was known for her iconic wardrobe, and members of the public are willing to pay big for them more than two decades after her death.
A silk floral-printed dress designed by Bellville Sassoon and worn by Diana on multiple occasions sold Thursday for over $500,000 at an auction in Beverly Hills, California.
The dress was purchased by Renae Plant, who told ABC News she plans to showcase the dress -- dubbed the "caring dress" because Diana wore it most often on visits to hospitals -- in her virtual museum, The Princess Diana Museum.
Plant told ABC News the dress, for her, symbolizes Diana's compassion, kindness and humanitarianism.
In all, hundreds of pieces of clothing as well as memorabilia belonging to the late princess -- who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 at the age of 36 -- were sold at the auction Thursday.
A custom white gown designed by Catherine Walker sold for $455,000, while an outfit by designer Bruce Oldfield sold for $260,000.
A custom peach hat worn by Diana as she left her honeymoon with now-King Charles III in 1981 sold for nearly $26,000.
Also included in the auction were personal items like childhood photographs, wedding memorabilia, a signed royal portrait and clothing sketches.
According to Julien's Auctions, the auction brought in more than $5 million in total sales.
Charles and Diana were married from 1981 to 1996, when they finalized their divorce. The former couple shared two children, Princes William and Harry.
Since her death in 1997, many items belonging to Diana have been sold at auction.
In 2023, an iconic sweater worn by Diana was sold by Sotheby's for $1.14 million, a price that set a world record at the time for an item of clothing worn by the late princess.
Other more personal items in Diana's collection were loaned by William and Harry in 2018 to Diana's dress exhibition at Kensington Palace.
