Princess Diana’s Iconic Black Sheep Sweater Sells for Record $1.1M at Auction

Princess Diana’s iconic black sheepskin sweater is breaking records.

On Thursday, the garment sold for $1.1 million at Sotheby’s final auction of fashion icons during New York Fashion Week – the highest price paid at auction for an item worn by the late Princess of Wales.

According to CNN, the sweater sold for a total of $1.143 million in just 15 minutes of bidding. The knitting was offered with an estimate of $50,000 to $80,000.

The garment broke the record of Diana’s Victor Edelstein eggplant evening gown, which made fashion history when it sold for $604,800 in January. The dress, which was designed for Diana in 1989 and also sold at auction at Sotheby’s, fetched five times its pre-estimated price.

Sotheby’s has announced that the iconic sweater will go up for auction in June. As a 19-year-old, Diana wore the outfit with a pair of blue jeans to watch then-Prince Charles play a polo match in June 1981, just a month before their royal wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Princess Diana wearing her black sheepskin sweater in June 1981.

Photo library by Tim Graham via Getty Images

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“It’s an obvious metaphor for not fitting in. But also, that it’s okay to stand out and be different,” Cynthia Houlton, Global Head of Fashion and Accessories at Sotheby’s, said of the sweater ahead of the auction.

The item was discovered in storage more than 40 years later by one of the designers of British knitwear brand Warm & Wonderful who created the fashion statement.

Shortly after Diana first wore the design, designers Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne received a letter from Buckingham Palace stating that Diana had damaged the sweater and asking if it could be repaired or replaced. A new garment was sent and the original, damaged item was forgotten about until Osborne came across it in storage earlier this year.

Black sheep sweater.

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“I was in the attic in February looking for a pattern, and happened to notice an old wine box in the corner – and there was a red sheep’s sweater wrapped in a cotton blanket. It was well preserved and I had a kind of Groundhog Day moment and thought, ‘Could this be the one?’ I looked at the cuff, which had obviously been sewn back on, and I called Sal and said, ‘I think I’ve found the real Diana sweater!’ Osborne exclusively told PEOPLE.

“We kind of forgot about that,” added Muir.

Osborne continued: “We looked at all the photos of him wearing it, we compared them and we were both sure it was the right one. We just knew because every jumper is different, so it was easy to see. So we called Sotheby’s!”

Princess Diana wearing her second version of the sweater in 1983.

Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archives/Getty Images

Ahead of the auction, Houlton also told PEOPLE exclusively that the way the garment was rediscovered raised the stakes for the sale.

“They came across this sweater very randomly, it’s not like they sat on this sweater for a while and then decided who they were going to sell it to,” Houlton said of Muir and Osborne.

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Diana wore her second version of the sweater to another of Charles’ polo matches in 1983, teaming it with a white blouse with a black bow and white trousers.

Last week, three of Diana’s dresses were also sold at auction for about $1.62 million.

The fashion was up for auction at Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies Presents “Legends: Hollywood and Royalty,” which ran Wednesday through Friday in Beverly Hills and online.

Items sold included a red silk dress by Bruce Oldfield and two designs by royal favorite Catherine Walker. The first was a strapless dress made of black silk velvet and white silk, while the second was an off-the-shoulder dress with a black bodice and a green silk skirt.

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Source: HIS Education