Made by Moroccan fashion designer, Princess Diana dress sold for $1.15 million

Created by Moroccan-British fashion designer, a dress worn by the late Princess of Wales Diana Spencer was sold on Sunday, December 17, at an auction for nearly $1.15 million, the New York Times reported earlier this week.

The ballerina-length dress was designed in the 1980s by Jacques Azagury, a Moroccan-born designer known for creating clothes for Princess Diana, British actress Helen Mirren and American-British actress Elizabeth McGovern.

The famous black velvet dress and blue organza dress was worn the first time by the late princess during a dinner hosted by the mayor of Florence, Italy, in 1985 and a second time while attending the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 1986, the New York Times reported.

The dress is sold at a record price for one of Princess Diana’s gowns, the same source added. Sold for more than 11 times what the auction house had predicted, the dress is «synonymous with the Princess of Wales’s royal elegance and eternal grace», auction house Julien’s Auctions, said in a statement.

For the record, Azagury trained at the London College of Fashion and at St Martin’s School of Art. He opened his store in 1987 in Knightsbridge. In an interview with The Independent in 2008, he recalled how he had met Princess Diana. «When I was at the London Collection, I suddenly turned round and found Diana, Princess of Wales, standing behind me. It was the beginning of a very long and great friendship», he said.