Wizard of Oz Dorothy Dress Sells For £302,000 In Hollywood

Judy Garland

Hollywood – A gingham dress with a pinafore worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 classic film, the Wizard of Oz has sold for £302,000 at auction in Beverly Hills.The blue and white garment realised a respectable price within the high and low estimate guidelines. A spokesperson from Julien’s Auctions said; “A similar dress worn during tests for the classic 1939 film fetched $910,000 (£572,500) in 2011”. Auctioneer Darren Julien said, “the difference in price was due to the fact that fewer versions of the test dress were made”.

The dresses didn’t fetch anywhere near the $4.6m (£2.8m) spent last year on Marilyn Monroe’s white “subway dress” from the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch, and the $3.7m (£2.3m) taken for Audrey Hepburn’s Ascot dress from My Fair Lady, auctioned in the Debbie Reynolds sale, arguably the greatest Hollywood costume collection to be auctioned in history. The Wizard of Oz dress was made by the famous MGM costume designer Adrian Greenberg, who was commonly known simply as Adrian.

Other items sold were: a racing jacket belonging to Steve McQueen sold for $50,000 (£31,500). A green floral dress worn by Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music fetched $38,400 (£24,150) and a purple wool skirt worn by Marilyn Monroe during the making of the 1954 film River of No Return went for the same amount.

The same auction also had a slice of Royal memorabilia with $1,375 (£865) paid each for a slice of wedding cake from both Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding and the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana. The buyers have not been identified.

A similar dress also used in the film can be seen at the Victoria & Albert Museum in their spectacular Hollywood Costume exhibition until 27 January 2013.

Visit V&A Hollywood Costume Exhibition Here

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