Days before what would have been her 50th birthday, and also days before her son’s first royal visit to Canada (but not Toronto) as a married man, 14 gowns worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, are going up for auction in Toronto this summer. The fabulous frocks will be auctioned at Waddington’s on June 23.
The seller is Florida entrepreneur Maureen Rorech Dunkel, who paid $700,000 U.S. for 14 of 79 gowns that were up for bidding at a Christie’s charity auction for humanitarian causes in 1997. The collection includes the infamous midnight blue silk gown by Victor Edelstein—the very one the princess was wearing when John Travolta spun her around on the dance floor at a 1985 White House dinner.
The collection also features gowns by Catherine Walker, Bruce Oldfield, and Zandra Rhodes.