Australian collector buys Princess Diana’s ‘caring dress’ for $520,000

An Australian collector of Princess Diana memorabilia has purchased the iconic “caring dress” at auction for US$520,000 (approximately AU$794,000), 37 years after the purchaser met the princess wearing the dress.

Renae Plant – who manages an archive of 2700 Diana pieces as well as the virtual Princess Diana Museum – fell to the floor crying after placing the final US$400,000 bid (plus US$120,000 in fees) for the Bellville Sassoon dress designed for then-prince Charles and Diana’s 1988 tour of Australia to mark the bicentenary.

The floral day dress was expected to sell for between US$200,000 and US$300,000 according to pre-auction documents. It received its nickname after Diana wore it repeatedly to visit hospitals across the world, including in Nigeria, Brazil and Spain, says designer David Sassoon.

On the website for The Princess Diana Museum, Plant says she met the royal couple as a teenager during their 1983 and 1988 tours, and shook hands with the princess while she was wearing the dress at St Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney.

“When Diana saw me she reached up over the crowd and shook my hand!! As you can imagine, that was a dream come true, and definitely the beginning of a long journey … a lifelong passion for the Princess,” Plant wrote.

Princess Diana wearing the “caring dress” at St Andrews Cathedral, Sydney in January 1988.Credit: Getty Images

“Over the years, people have asked why Diana is so important to me. Here’s why: Diana stood for change … She was the first royal to remove her gloves and shake the public’s hands. That was huge. She brought much-needed attention and sympathy to the AIDS crisis, helping to diminish the fear and stigma associated with the disease … I can think of no one who has the same positive effect on the world that Diana did during the short time she was alive.”

Plant also operates the Princess and the Platypus Foundation – named after a ceramic platypus she says Diana dropped in 1983, which Plant still has today – a charity that raises money to acquire and maintain pieces for the museum, and donate to charities in Diana’s honour.

Earlier in June, the museum’s Instagram page posted a fundraising callout to raise money for the dress.

The dress, which came to auction from a private collection, was also worn during an official visit to Spain, alongside a pair of purple leather Ferragamo shoes, which sold at auction for US$127,000 last year.

As well as the “caring dress”, Plant purchased a peach hat, black taffeta evening gown, and white evening gown at the largest ever auction of Diana’s wardrobe in Los Angeles on Friday morning AEST.

The “caring dress” is now the second most expensive dress of Diana’s to sell at auction. Last year, a Jacques Azagury gown worn by the princess sold for US$1.1 million. A black Victor Edelstein gown worn by Diana in 1985 sold for US$290,000 in 2019.

The most expensive dress sold at auction was Marilyn Monroe’s iconic white dress worn in the film The Seven Year Itch, selling for US$4.6 million in 2011.

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