A SMALL TRIBUTE TO THE GOOD WORKS OF PRINCESS DIANA

Wednesday, June 25, 6:20 p.m.; a thousand men and woman were lined up inside red velvet ropes on 59th street, waiting for Christie's, NY, to open their doors. Every few minutes, a limousine would stop in the street causing frustrated cab drivers to honk their horns. Chauffeurs would open the door for the occupants, and they would be directed to the back of the queue. People accustomed to stepping right to the front would not do so today. All seemed wealthy here. I counted 85 television crews from every corner of the world. The police corralled the press away from the bidders into two square pens they assembled with sawbuck barricades on the street in front of the gallery. Occasionally a reporter would step out to take a clear picture, and an officer would courteously shoo him or her back like a stray calf. A huge crowd was gathering. Order must be maintained.

I opened my auction catalog. The title page read, "DRESSES from the Collection of Diana, Princess of Wales. A charity sale conducted by Christie's on a non profit basis." There was a listing of various AIDS and cancer centers that would benefit from the auction. I flipped my catalog to the next page. I looked at a copy of a hand-written note on Kensington Palace stationary: "The inspiration for the wonderful sale comes from just one person .... our son William. Diana. June: 1997." So, I thought, a princess was cleaning out her closet, and much good was going to come of it. William had a good idea.

A stubby whiskered New York reporter pushed his way up along side of me and snapped a picture of the potential bidders. "Fools and their money are easily parted," he said, "idiots!" I'm sure he wasn't thinking of the charity when he made the comment. He just didn't believe that used dresses were worth all this fuss.

I might have agreed with him had I not inspected the collection. It was breathtaking! From a standpoint of color, texture, workmanship, form, and certainly, provenance, these dresses on their tall slender mannequins seemed to have as much art in them as many objects I've seen sold at Christie's. One fashion designer I met told me the gowns were unexceptional from a quality standpoint-sure fooled me. I even thought of leaving a bid on a dress, thinking I could market it to a creative restaurant or a store like Macy's, in the event prices didn't get too high. They did.

The first lot, a three-quarter length sari-in inspired silk chiffon evening dress by Gina Fratini, was hammered out for $85,000. A long evening dress of pink wild silk with an embroidered bolero by Catherine Walker, lot 19, brought $61,900. The highlight of the evening was a long, formal dinner dress of ink blue silk velvet, by Victor Eldelstein. Diana wore it to a State Dinner at the White House given by President and Mrs. Regan, at which she danced with John Travolta. It sold for a record price, $222,500.

A trend was established several years ago when someone paid $20,000+ for a ho-hum cookie jar at the Andy Warhol sale. Then, Sotheby's struck gold in the Jackie Onasis sale. I've redefined "antique" as anything old with class, so you wouldn't overlook valuable pieces made in this century. Sometimes, today, the value of the article is not established by its class, but the eminence of its one-time owner. A couple weeks ago, a beautiful Princess teamed up with Christie's and some generous bidders, selling eighty gowns and a number of costly auction catalogs to raise almost $5,000,000 for charity. That's class!

Author's note: This column first appeared eight weeks prior to the tragic death of Princess Diana.