Princess Diana’s Versace Garment with Sweet Hidden Detail Is Up for Auction This Month

Among the 300-plus items available in one of the largest auctions of Princess Diana’s collection are several of the late Princess of Wales’ Versace pieces, a label she wore frequently towards the end of her life.

Bidding is open now for “Princess Diana’s Style & A Royal Collection,” put on by Julien Auctions; the auction itself will take place at 10 a.m. PST on June 26 at The Peninsula Beverly Hills. Among the Versace specific items in the collection is a black single-breasted pinstripe pantsuit, similar to items Gianni Versace had in his spring 1997 ready-to-wear collection.

Versace was one of the first international designers of acclaim to design for the Princess of Wales in the 1990s, “and whose pared-down, streamlined looks ushered in a new phase of glamorous for the princess following her separation from Prince Charles,” according to Julien’s Auctions. The auction house has experience with Diana’s Versace collection, even before this most recent auction—it sold a Versace gown worn by Diana in 1990 for $200,000 in 2015.

Diana was first introduced to the designer by Anna Harvey, an editor at British Vogue who was Diana’s fashion mentor throughout her royal life. After seeing a photo of supermodel Naomi Campbell in an embellished column dress, Diana was hooked; Diana became a frequent client of Versace’s, “whose tailored clothing fit her body more closely, and the use of strong color choices allowed her to stand out in large crowds for her appearances.”

Deborah Ball wrote in her book House of Versace that “Over the next several years, Gianni gradually became one of her favorite designers, although she often made him remove the gaudy medusas and overwrought details he piled on his clothes. He gave her first pick of his couture collection and designed pieces exclusively for her that were classic but had a pinch of glamour.”

Franca Biagini, head of the atelier, worked with Diana for all of the Princess of Wales’ fittings, visiting Diana’s home at Kensington Palace to do so; Versace’s designs gave “her the sleek, international look she was known for at the end of her life.”

The pantsuit’s starting bid is at $8,000, with an expected bid estimated to be between $30,000 to $50,000, as is an ice blue silk sleeveless shift dress with gold tone buttons running the length of the side seams. Additionally, a three-piece lilac Atelier Versace haute couture skirt suit is up for auction; poignantly, on the jacket’s interior, embroidered on the lilac silk lining, is the letter “D” with a Greek key circle border. Like the pantsuit, a similar look to this one was featured in Versace’s spring 1997 ready-to-wear collection. Diana wore the lilac skirt suit on June 17, 1997 in Washington, D.C., where she gave an anti-landmines speech at the Red Cross Headquarters in the city. 

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Tragically, in the July 1997 issue of Vanity Fair—which featured Diana on the cover—Versace said of the Princess of Wales, “I had a fitting with her last week for new suits and clothing for spring, and she is so serene. It is a moment in her life, I think, when she’s found herself—the way she wants to live.” Shortly after the interview was published, Versace was murdered on July 15; Diana died in a car accident on August 31, just over a month after she wept as she attended Versace’s July 22 funeral in Milan, Italy.

Versace and Diana had a mutual friend in singer Elton John, who Diana consoled at Versace’s funeral, never knowing that he’d sing “Candle in the Wind” in her honor at her own funeral just weeks later. Per Newsweek, the trio would have dinners together in London, and, according to a book written by Diana’s former bodyguard Lee Sansum, the Princess of Wales found out about Versace’s death while aboard the Jonikal yacht while having breakfast.

In his 2022 book Protecting Diana (via Newsweek), Sansum wrote that “Diana was in tears and looked very distressed” at the news. Then she asked Sansum a chilling question: “Then she said something that always stayed with me,” Sansum wrote. “‘Do you think they’ll do that to me?’”

“She was shaking,” he added.