The sheep sweater that took the fashion world by storm when Princess Diana wore it in the ’80s will soon be up for auction.
The famous red garment covered in white sheep, and one striking black sheep, is headed to Sotheby’s inaugural Fashion Icons sale in September, the auction house announced in a release.
Online bidding will be open from Aug. 31 until Sept. 14, and the whimsical sweater is expected to fetch between $50,000 and $80,000 at auction.
Diana wore the sweater — or jumper, as the British would call it — in 1981, shortly after she became engaged to Prince Charles, now King Charles III.
Some speculated at the time that Diana may have “felt a connection to the lone black sheep, in regard to her complex relationship” with the royal family, according to Sotheby’s.
Others thought the sheep might reflect Diana’s fondness for the British countryside, the auction house noted, or else might have symbolized purity and innocence.
Whatever the sheep sweater meant to the late princess, she definitely seemed fond of the cozy jumper, wearing it multiple times in the ‘80s.
She wore it to two polo matches in Windsor, England, in 1981 and 1983, layering it both times over a blouse with a bibbed collar.
The now-iconic sweater was one of the first pieces ever created by British label Warm & Wonderful. Not long after Diana was first spotted wearing the sweater, the fledgling knitwear brand was overwhelmed by demand for the statement piece.
“We had no idea she had one. I got up on a Sunday morning and went to the news agent and found our jumper all over the front pages,” one of the brand’s founders, Joanna Osborne, told TODAY in 2020.
“We were astounded and amazed,” she continued. “And then of course because it was 1981, we were very young, we didn’t know how to capitalize or what to do with it. It took two or three weeks for people to realize it was our jumper, and then we were absolutely swamped.”
A few weeks after Diana was first photographed wearing the sweater, Buckingham Palace reached out to Osborne and her co-founder, Sally Muir. The palace explained that the princess had damaged the sheep sweater, and wondered whether a repair or replacement could be arranged.
Osborne and Muir sent Diana a replacement sweater and held onto the damaged one — and just recently, they made an exciting discovery.
“This past March, as we were rummaging through the attic searching for an old pattern, we spotted a small box. Inside, tucked away beside a cotton bedspread was Diana’s original red sheep sweater from 1981,” the designers said in a statement.
“Now, almost four decades later, this one-of-a-kind sheep sweater is ready to make its way into the hands of a fortunate collector," they added.
Warm & Wonderful continued making the famous sheep sweater until 1994, and reissued the design in 2020 in collaboration with the brand Rowing Blazers.
A 100% cotton version of the sweater is currently available in “Diana Red” on Warm & Wonderful’s website for $248.