On 18 April 1961, Elizabeth Taylor attended the 33rd Academy Awards in Santa Monica, California, wearing a stunning Christian Dior couture gown. That year's awards were a particularly special one for the actress as she won her very first Oscar for Best Actress in the film Butterfield 8. From then on, she treasured the Dior dress and often travelled with it. Now, after being rediscovered in a suitcase in London last year, that dress is headed to auction on 12 December with a pre-sale estimate of £60,000- 100,000.
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Designed by Marc Bohan, the elegant, garden-inspired gown has a yellow chiffon bodice cinched with a green taffeta belt attached to a red silk flower. The silk bubble skirt is embroidered with blossoms and insects and shaped by five layers of tulle petticoats. While the dress had particular significance for Taylor, it also marked an evolution at the House of Dior. In September 1960, Yves Saint Laurent, then the creative director at Dior, was conscripted to fight in the French army during the Algerian War. Bohan, who had worked for Dior's London line since 1958, was called on to replace Saint Laurent and worked for Dior until 1989. This particular dress was one of Bohan's earliest designs as Dior's creative director, as part of the Spring-Summer 1961 collection.
Though Elizabeth Taylor often included the Oscars dress in one of her 40 massive trunks of clothes when she traveled, by 1971, she decided to give away that gown as well as others. At the Dorchester Hotel in London, she called in Anne Sanz, the wife of Gaston Sanz, who was Taylor's long-time bodyguard and chauffeur, and told her to pick from a selection of her clothes. Anne curated her own collection of Taylor's wardrobe, including Christian Dior haute couture by Bohan, Tiziani haute couture by Karl Lagerfeld and a vintage crocodile dressing case.
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She also chose the 'Greek black widow' robe that Taylor wore in the 1967 film Boom!, that co-starred Richard Burton and Noël Coward. It was designed by Karl Lagerfeld, who made all the clothes for the film under the label Tiziani.
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After Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton divorced for the second time in 1976, Gaston Sanz retired from working for the couple and moved to London with Anne and their young daughter, named Elizabeth after her godmother Elizabeth Taylor. In 2022, the Sanz family contacted Kerry Taylor Auctions to appraise Anne Sanz's collection, which had been kept in excellent condition in suitcases in London.
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Now that rediscovered collection is headed to auction at Kerry Taylor Auctions in London on 12 December as part of the Passion for Fashion sale. All eyes will certainly be on the Dior Oscars dress to see if it upstages the current record for an Elizabeth Taylor-worn gown at auction. This was set in 2011 when her Christian Dior silver brocade dress sold for $362,500 at Christie's over a $6,000 estimate.
