Celebrity items are often put up for auction in order to raise money for NGOs and foundations, and sometimes they're simply sold to the highest bidder because they're seen as valuable cultural artifacts.
Princess Diana's historic, beloved red sweater adorned with a flock of white sheep and a single black sheep has gone on view alongside Buckingham Palace letters at Sotheby's on July 17, 2023, in London, and will soon head to Sotheby’s Inaugural Fashion Icons Sale in New York this September with an estimate of fetching US$50,000-80,000 (£40,000-70,000).
The 19-year-old Lady Diana Spencer first wore the sweater to a polo match in 1981 shortly after her engagement to then-Prince Charles, boosting designers Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne, who made the sweater for their small knitwear label Warm & Wonderful. A few weeks later they reportedly received an official letter from Buckingham Palace explaining that Diana had damaged the sweater and asking whether it could be repaired or replaced. A new sweater was made and Diana wore it with white jeans and a black ribbon tie at an event in 1983. Many speculated Diana was so tied to the "black sheep" pattern due to how she felt like an outsider in the royal family.
