The iconic sheep jumper that the late Princess Diana famously wore in the 80s has been located, over 40 years after it went missing.
What’s more, but Sotheyby’s has announced that the jumper – made by designers Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne for their knitwear brand Warm & Wonderful – will go up for auction during this year’s New York Fashion Week, as a part of their inaugural Fashion Icons sale.
Diana first wore the sheep jumper in June 1981.
It’s predicted that Princess Diana’s sheep jumper will sell for up to £70,000 (roughly AU$133,328).
Diana first wore the jumper in question in June 1981, a month before her royal wedding to then-Prince Charles. She attended a polo match that Charles participated in and paired her sheep jumper with blue jeans.
However, according to Sally and Joanna, Princess Diana damaged her jumper shortly after the polo match.
Sally and Joanna told PEOPLE that just a few weeks after Diana publicly stepped out in their design, they received a package containing Diana’s jumper and a letter from Buckingham Palace stating that the cuff on one sleeve had ripped and Diana would like to get it either repaired or replaced.
The designers obviously sent a brand new sheep jumper to the princess, which she publicly wore in 1983, this time with a white collared shirt, white jeans and red pumps. But the original became forgotten; until Joanna recently stumbled upon it, that is.
“I was in the attic in February searching for a pattern, and I just happen[ed] to notice this old wine box in a corner and there was a red sheep jumper wrapped in a cotton bedspread. 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 actual real Diana jumper,'” Joanna recalled.
Diana was sent a replacement after she damaged her original sheep jumper. Here she is wearing the replacement in 1983.
“We had just sort of forgotten about it,” Sally chimed in.
“We looked at all the photographs of her wearing it, and we compared the two and we both felt certain that it was the actual one. We just knew because every jumper is different, so it was easy to see. So we called Sotheby’s,” Joanna said.
Considering how much Diana’s original sheep jumper is expected to sell for at the Sotheby’s auction, we’re guessing it’s a little out of the price range of most of our readers; but you can still get your hands on a sheep jumper!
Sally and Joanna still sell them for their brand Warm & Wonderful and you can buy a new one for yourself here for the retail price of AU$430.
