Princess Diana’s sheepskin sweater sold at auction for a record $1.1 million
This sheep is not cheap.
Princess Diana’s famous black sheepskin sweater stunned fashion fans on Thursday when it sold at auction for an incredible $1.1 million, breaking the record for the highest price ever paid for an item worn by the deceased royal.
The red Warm & Wonderful piece – which depicts a flock of white creatures surrounded by a black sheep – is one of the most iconic pieces ever worn by Princess Diana, with the patterned sweater surpa*sing the estimate by leaps and bounds. Sotheby’s at auction from $50,000 to $80,000.
Although the lucky winner is currently unknown, the auction house noted in a press release that a 15-minute bidding war ensued, causing the price to skyrocket from 190,000 $ to its sale price of $1,143,000 at a rapid speed.
The legendary sweater was donated to Sotheby’s after designers Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne found it in a box while “rummaging in the attic”.
“Inside, hidden next to a cotton bedspread, was Diana’s original red shearling sweater from 1981,” the designers said in a June press release.
Princess Diana first wore the red sweater in 1981, and the inclusion of a black sheep was widely seen as a subtle message that the princess felt she did not belong in the royal family – or perhaps being that she wanted to stand out from the rest of the royal family. the herd too.
She wore the knit so often that it would eventually tear, with Sotheby’s sharing on Instagram in June that “after damaging her beloved sweater, Diana returned it to the brand with a request for repair.”
The auctioned sweater found in a box was the damaged original version, because Muir and Osborne had made a new sweater for the princess instead of returning hers.
The impressive sale of the sheepskin sweater follows a series of other auctions featuring items worn by the late Princess of Wales, with a purple velvet evening dress fetching a whopping $604,800 in January, holding the previous record.
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One piece was even purchased by none other than Kim Kardashian, with the reality star purchasing Diana’s amethyst cross necklace for a bargain price of $197,453 earlier this year.
If you don’t have a royal budget, you can always get your own shearling sweater ($248) from Warm & Wonderful, which revived the legendary design in 2020.
As for Diana’s second sweater, maybe that will end up up for auction as well.