Diana’s iconic engagement blouse and star-studded evening gown go up for sale at auction, inspired by the glamor of Hepburn, Garbo and Hollywood

Diana, then 19, wore a soft pink blouse by designers David and Elizabeth Emanuel and looked ethereal as she gazed out of the pages of the February 1981 issue of British Vogue for her official engagement portrait.

Now the Museum of Style Icons in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, which bought it for £27,500 from Kerry Taylor Auctions on June 8, 2010, plans to sell the blouse. It is estimated to fetch up to £79,000 at auction, making a significant profit.

The blouse is part of a series of lots to be sold during a four-day auction, starting December 14 at Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles.

Diana’s ballerina length evening dress, designed by Moroccan-British fashion designer Jacques Azagury and worn in Florence, Italy on April 23, 1985

Diana is photographed in the Azagury dress

The event, titled Glamour, Grace & Greatness: Classic Hollywood Auction, will also include the first dress that couturier Jacques Azagury designed for Diana.

“The romantic blouse has flowing sleeves that are pleated at the shoulder and finished with flounced cuffs,” writes the auction house.

‘The blouse comes with a satin ribbon that is tied in a bow under the collar. There is a single button closure at the back of the neck and a single button on each cuff. The blouse has a light pink silk lining, there is no label or size.’

It was on January 28, 1981 that Vogue’s beauty editor Felicity Clark called the Emanuels and told them she was doing a shoot for the magazine about English Roses and wanted something “very romantic” for “someone very famous.”

In their studio hung the perfect garment: a light pink silk chiffon blouse with a soft, floating collar with ruffles and a pink silk satin bow.

They sent it around the corner to Vogue, and photographer Lord Snowdon, then divorced from Princess Margaret, photographed Diana in the blouse for the feature film ‘Upcoming Beauties’.

The engagement was announced the day the magazine came out and Diana chose the image for her official engagement photo.

In their book A Dress for Diana, David and Elizabeth Emanuel wrote: ‘It was this blouse hanging in our studio when we suddenly got the call from Vogue asking for something that had a high neck and was very romantic.’

“It was only later that we discovered the blouse had been worn by Lady Diana (whose sisters both worked at Vogue),” she added.

‘The fashion team had put together a large collection of clothes from different designers that she could try out, just as you would at any fashion or beauty shoot.

‘When she saw our blouse on the rack, she fell in love with it, asked who made it and was referred to us. That was the beginning of our relationship with Diana.’

The other famous Diana dress auctioned by Julien is the ballerina-length black evening dress, embroidered with blue stars, designed by couturier Jacques Azagury, the first he designed for her.

The dress, which measures 90cm wide at the bust, 90cm around the waist and 90cm wide across the hips, was among those auctioned by the princess at Christie’s on June 25, 1997, two months before her death.

It was sold to People magazine for £15,910, before being donated to the New York Historical Society in 2015. It is estimated to fetch up to £158,000.

Couturier Jacques Azagury first met Diana when he showed his autumn/winter 1985 New Romantics collection at London’s Hyde Park Hotel – now the Mandarin Oriental.

Vogue fashion editor Anna Harvey tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Jacques, I’d like you to meet someone.” “I turned around and there she was right in front of me,” he recalled, “which threw me to the ground.

“Then we were literally talking. She had the magic of making you feel comfortable and at home within seconds. While I was talking to her, she was looking at a dress, which I wasn’t aware of.

Then two or three weeks later we got a call from the palace: “Princess Diana would like to visit your studio. Is that good?” And we were of course very happy with it.

Audrey Hepburn’s Marigold Givenchy coat from the film Charade is for sale

Greta Garbo’s personal turquoise Ottoman silk shirt dress

And we said, “Yes. Yes. We would love for her to come,” and that was really the start of our relationship. Usually I take everything in stride, but I have to admit, every time I saw Diana wearing my clothes, I got really excited.”

Jacques and his sister Solange were then invited to Kensington Palace to discuss the dress, made from Jakob Schlaepher fabric.

Diana wore it to a mayoral dinner at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy, on December 11, 1985, and a Vancouver Symphony Orchestra performance at the Orpheum Theater in Vancouver, Canada, on May 5 the following year.

Items from Hollywood’s golden era are also on sale, including an evening coat worn by Audrey Hepburn in the film Charade and a silk shirt dress by Greta Garbo.

• Diana: A Life in Dresses by Claudia Joseph is published by ACC Art Books at £40.