Okay, let’s get one thing straight: Princess Diana was a fashion icon.
The great thing about the era of nostalgia we live in is that previous fashion trends are totally on fire again.
You know what else that means? Some of Princess Diana’s old clothing pieces are in high demand again.
Princess Diana was a paparazzi magnet.
Everyone was obsessed with her, and that came with a lot of trouble, both big and small.
Her untimely death actually happened after a night of attempting to avoid the paparazzi.
More often than not, the paparazzi would photograph Princess Diana leaving the gym in a “Fly Atlantic” sweater.
The sweater eventually became somewhat of an icon.
Diana had actually donated a few sweaters to her trainer, Jenni Rivett.
With the aim of auctioning them for charity, Princess Diana gifted Rivett a few of her workout sweaters.
“A few months before her untimely death she called me to say she had left a few sweatshirts for me.” Rivett wrote.
Now, the most famous sweater is up for auction.
Her oversized Virgin Atlantic sweater was given to her by the airline’s owner and Diana’s friend, Sir Richard Branson.
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Rivett, who is now putting the sweater up for auction, wrote a few letters to accompany it.
You can find it at RR Auction.
According to the site, it’s expected to go for at least $5000.
Given our aforementioned affinity for nostalgia, I’m betting it’s going to go for way more than that. I’m talking 5 figures at least.
According to Rivett, the sweater is unwashed.
Meaning the last person to wear it? Was Princess Diana.
You know, I think I was too conservative with my estimate before. Maybe this sweater will go for six figures after all.
This sweater was a symbol.
“She felt there were far more important issues to focus on in the world then her gym attire and therefore decided that wearing the famous Virgin sweatshirt to every session, would be a good way to stop the media frenzy!”
That’s right, Princess Diana chose to wear this sweater over and over again to foil the paparazzi and make their shots worthless.
Her trainer said as much in an interview.
Jenni Rivett, Princess Diana’s former trainer, gave an interview to The Royal Box in 2018.
“For her she just found it so incredibly, ‘why are they so interested in me when there is more important things to worry about in the world.'”
Anyway, her look is clearly back.
I mean, one search of Fashion Nova for “biker shorts” nets you 4 pages of spandex.
Athleisure is the look to be in right now, and I think it’s safe to say that Princess Diana was a trailblazer in that regard — even though that was never her intention, clearly.
You can’t buy the same style sweater these days, either.
So, if you like the design, but don’t want to pay for Princess Diana’s, you’re absolutely out of luck.
…Unless you’re up for buying second hand. Variations of the sweater do pop up on reselling sites from time to time.
Some secondhand versions exist online.
I decided to see if I could track down a version that wasn’t $5000, and wasn’t just the same design slapped on a sweater from RedBubble.
This one popped up in my search. Clearly, I can’t authenticate it, but I lowkey want it.
Virgin Atlantic clearly knows the design is pretty coveted.
For their Holiday 2019 campaign, they swapped out all their airline uniforms for these “ugly” Christmas sweaters.
That design looks pretty familiar, huh?
They actually allowed customers to compete to win one of them, too!
Anyway, Princess Diana was an icon.
And clearly preceded the Instagram movement we have today, though for obviously different reasons.
Her whole life was a lesson for us: balance, privacy, and altruism are important things for us to consider.
The auction is up now.
RR Auction has the sweater available to bid on now.
They don’t make it easy: you have to have an account to place a bid, and probably a couple thousand dollars to buy anything. Just a few fun tips for you.
