Princess Diana’s Final (and Most Risqué) Evening Gowns Sold to U.S. Collector (Exclusive)

Some of Princess Diana’s most famous dresses are coming to America!

Five glamorous evening gowns, identical to those designed by Jacques Azagury and worn by Diana in her final years, have been sold to a private collector in Los Angeles for an undisclosed sum.

“The whole collection means a lot to me, and the only reason I’m selling them is because I retired five weeks ago,” Azagury tells PEOPLE. “I really wanted people to continue to enjoy these iconic dresses and ideally to keep the entire collection together.”

The dresses are “twins” of the originals worn by Princess Diana during her final years and include the iconic black turtleneck dress she wore to a controversial charity gala Panorama the interview was broadcast in 1995.

Princess Diana in a Jacques Azagury suit at a benefit gala for landmine victims in Washington on June 17, 1997.

AP Photo/Karin Cooper

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“She was always very excited about fashion and knew that she would satisfy so many people who were just waiting for her to come out in the next dress, whether they were waiting on the street or watching her on television,” recalls the Moroccan-born. a designer who has been in the fashion industry for almost 40 years.”She spent a long time trying to get everything right, choosing the right shoes and jewelry.”

Another iconic dress that forms part of the collection is the pale blue above-the-knee gown embellished with tiny crystal beading and a trumpet that Princess Diana wore to a performance of Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall in June 1997.

“It was the age of the supermodel and everyone was wearing shorter dresses and tighter dresses,” says the designer, who recently closed his boutique in Knightsbridge, where he and Diana used to meet.

Princess Diana performing Swan Lake at London’s Royal Albert Hall on June 3, 1997.

According to Azagury, she loved the short dress so much that he decided to make a longer version “even more glamorous than the original” in black and gave it to her for her 36th birthday, for which she thanked him with a personal message included in the auction lot .

That evening, she attended an event at the Tate Gallery in London wearing a stunning, glittering gown. It turned out to be her last red carpet event before her tragic death in Paris.

Three of Princess Diana’s dresses sold at auction for approximately $1.62 million

Princess Diana at the 100th anniversary gala of the Tate Gallery in London on July 1, 1997.

Tim Graham Photo Library via Getty

“She was the only person I was really excited to meet, time after time. Every moment was so exciting for me and we had so much fun,” says Azagury, who worked with Diana for 12 years, through a difficult marriage and her transition from royal family. “I never had any of the troublesome Diana – whenever we were together it was just happy.”

“After her marriage broke up, she reinvented herself and turned into an incredibly stunning woman — not that she hadn’t been before, but that’s when her personality really started to shine,” he says from his London home. “She had it all; the most amazing legs, that shiny hair, those blue eyes.”

Princess Diana in a Jacques Azagury suit at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice in 1995.

Antony Jones/UK Press via Getty

Although he is happy to share the dresses with the public, some of which come with sketches and personal handwritten notes from Princess Diana, the retired designer has kept some sentimental items to himself.

“One of the most precious things I have is a framed picture that the princess sent me the morning she left for France, from where she never returned,” he said.

Azagury arrived at his store to find a member of her staff waiting with a package. “Inside was a framed picture of Diana wearing three of the famous five dresses, with a message that read; ‘To Jacques, lots of love Diana’ — I’ll keep it all to myself,” he said.

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The dresses will soon be heading stateside, where they will be added to a growing collection of memorabilia run by Renae Plant, founder of The Princess & The Platypus Foundation, which runs a 3D interactive online museum featuring more than 1,800 historical Diana-related items.

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Source: HIS Education