Princess Diana’s engagement portrait blouse could fetch £79,000 at auction

A blouse worn by Princess Diana for her engagement portrait is expected to fetch thousands of pounds at an auction.

The pink “crepe blouse with ruff-like collar and loose pleats to the front”, was worn by The late Princess of Wales during a portrait captured by royal photographer Lord Snowdon in 1981.

The top will be available to purchase as part of Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies’ Hollywood Legends auction, where it’s expected to bring in between 80,000 to 100,000 US dollars (£63,490 to £79,360) estimate.

The garment was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel – who also designed Diana’s wedding gown.

Emanual spoke about the late Princess’s first encounter with the garment in her book A Dress for Diana: “When she saw our blouse on the rack she fell in love with it, asked who had made it and was directed to us.”

The blouse was later sold in 2010 and previously appeared on display at Kensington Palace for an exhibition from 2017 to 2019.

According to Juliens Auction, the event titled “Glamour, Grace & Greatness: Classic Hollywood Auction” includes a “collection of some of the most head turning and star making pieces of the greatest style icons of all time,” and is set to take place on day 4 of the presentation.

The auction will be held in Beverly Hills and on the auction website on Sunday 17 December.

Another staple set for auction is Diana’s ballerina-length evening dress designed by Moroccan-British fashion designer Jacques Azagury for the Princess of Wales and worn in Florence, Italy on 23 April 1985.

The dress is estimated to be worth between £79,360 to £158,720

(PA)

The dress with padded shoulder pads features a black velvet bodice with embroidered stars in a metallic thread made from Jakob Schlaepher fabric with a twotier royal blue organza skirt with a sash and bow, the auction website says.

The dress is estimated to be worth between 100,000-200,000 US dollars (£79,360 to £158,720).

The auction also features other Hollywood star’s clothes including a Givenchy dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in 1963 comedy Charade, a sleeveless gown worn by Gloria Swanson in 1950 noir film Sunset Boulevard and Barbra Streisand’s sailor dress from a 1960s special called My Name Is Barbra.

A range of prices, between 1,000 to 50,000 US dollars (£790 to £39,680), have been estimated for these items.

Other highlights from this Julien’s auction include:

-Barbra Streisand’s My Name is Barbra screen-worn sailor dress

– A carriage clock personally owned by Marilyn Monroe

– A James Dean-inscribed Rebel Without a Cause publicity photo

– An original Jean Louis costume illustration for Judy Garland in

– A Star is Born Desi Arnaz’s original 1934 passport

– An original RKO Radio Pictures campaign book announcing the 1940-1941 films

– The Bridge on the River Kwai original Academy Award Best Picture announcement card

– Greta Garbo’s personally-owned turquoise Ottoman silk shirt dress and luxurious headwear, scarves, handbags and more

– Orson Welles’ cigar ashtray gifted by Ernest Hemingway

– A Tale of Two Cities screen-matched stool A collection of candid photographs of Clark Gable and castmates on the set of Mutiny on the Bounty

– A Katharine Hepburn-signed and inscribed self-portrait print

– Lucille Ball’s personal hand-annotated Here’s Lucy script

– Bette Midler’s I’ll Eat You Last stage-worn caftan