Princess Diana’s iconic dress worn during John Travolta dance is up for auction
A piece of royal history is up for grabs for one lucky bidder.
Kerry Taylor Auctions, the United Kingdom’s premier vintage auctioneer, is putting up for sale the late Princess Diana’s iconic Victor Edelstein evening gown – the very one she wore to a 1985 White House state dinner where she danced with John Travolta.
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Princess Diana dances with John Travolta in a dress designed by Victor Edelstein, whilst attending a State Dinner at the White House, Nov. 9, 1985. (Corbis, Pool, via Getty Images)
The blue velvet gown will hit the auction block on Dec. 9 with an estimated value between £250,000 and £350,000, which is equivalent to about $323,682.50 and $453,155.50 at the time of this article.
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“This is considered one of the most important and iconic gowns ever worn by the princess,” Lucy Bishop of Kerry Taylor Auctions told The Independent. “The photos of her being twirled around on the dance floor by a handsome John Travolta at the White House caused a sensation at the time, and remain so memorable today.”
This isn’t the first time that the off-shoulder, mermaid-style gown has been put up for sale. Two months before Diana’s passing in 1997, the royal sold it for £100,000, which was roughly equivalent to $160,000, according to conversion figures recorded by Pound Sterling Live. The sale earned funds that were later donated to the Royal Marsden Hospital Cancer Fund and the AIDS Crisis Trust.
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The Victor Edelstein Midnight Blue Velvet Gown worn by Princess Diana for a State dinner at the White House in November 1985 is displayed ahead of the the 'Fit For a Princess' auction on March 15, 2013, in London. (Karwai Tang/WireImage)
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The gown remained with Florida businesswoman Maureen Dunkel until she went bankrupt in 2011, according to a report from the Daily Mail. Two years later, BBC News reported that an unnamed British man purchased the gown for his wife as a gift.
Diana wasn’t afraid to be seen wearing the famous gown more than once. In total, she was seen donning the draped dress on four other major occasions. She can also be seen forever memorialized in the gown in a 1997 portrait captured by British photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, or as the royals know him, Lord Snowdon.