And...the Versace Atelier Dress
As the Caroline Charles dress we purchased gained global press for how much it earned, this dress came up for auction. For over 14 years, the Versace dress had been in a cupboard in Germany belonging to a collector of Versace gowns. Julien's brought it in from Germany and Livinio and I were asked if we wanted to attend the auction.
26th June 2015. My husband and I really weren't ready to buy another dress so quickly after the last major purchase, but we had
a line of equity on our home that we could use for the second investment.
This dress was stunning.
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I had never seen anything like it and the image of her wearing it was incredibly iconic. Diana first wore this dress in 1991 when photographed by Patrick Demarchelier. The photo was used on the cover of Harper's Bazaar six years later, a month after she died.
On the day of the auction, I was nervous as Livinio and I once again set a budget limit we felt good about. We sat in the back row with our daughter Ilan who came with us. We gave her the job of holding up the paddle for each bid. There was a bidder on the phone and slowly but surely it came down to just the two of us. The dress was quickly going up in value.
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The bidder on the phone suddenly asked if the bid increment could be reduced and the auction house politely declined. We had one last bid as we reached our maximum budget. Livinio and I looked at each other and both agreed: one more go! We signaled Ilan and she put our paddle up. The phone bidder stopped…
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SOLD!! And......we owned the dress!
We were ECSTATIC!!! Especially when we found out we were bidding against Historic Royal Palaces.
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And now? The supreme responsibility of taking care of it.
Visiting Kensington Palace Exhibit in 2017
Lilac Atelier Versace, Haute-Couture Skirt Suit
A three-piece matching skirt suit includes a jacket, a sleeveless blouse, and a skirt. The jacket is single-breasted with purple-toned translucent buttons and a Medusa head motif. On the jacket's interior, embroidered on the lilac silk lining, is a letter "D" with a Greek key circle border. Paired with the jacket is a sleeveless silk crepe blouse with a hidden side zip closure, linked with georgette silk, and a fitted knee-length pencil skirt.
Gianni Versace exhibited looks with this specific shade of lavender for his spring 1997 ready-to-wear collection, as well as similar tailored jackets seen for runway look 22.
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Silk Evening Clutch
An off-white silk evening clutch with a silver tone hard with a rhinestone-embellished hinge frame designed by Gianni Versace. ​
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​The clutch features two Medus accents, one on the exterior front at the center or top of the handbag and the other at the clasp. The interior has an open compartment and is lined in off-white silk. An open pocket is located on the back. There is a removable link strap with a bezel-set rhinestone between the links.
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Single-breasted Versace Couture Pinstripe Pantsuit
A two-piece wool tonal pinstripe black pantsuit includes a single-breasted jacket and a pair of high-waisted pants. The jacket has matte black buttons, a fold-over collar, square shoulders, a contoured waist, and shaping at the hips.
The pants are high-waisted with creased legs. Gianni exhibited a similar tailored jacket and pinstripe in his spring 1997 ready-to-wear collection.
Visit The Princess Diana Museum to see these Versace pieces in all their magnificence.