What would you do if you had $17 million lying in your bank account? Would you buy yourself a lavish house? A luxury car? Make a significant investment? Or erm… spend all of it on a dress? Well, if you’re considering the last option, then British designer Debbie Wingham has just what you need! Yes, you heard that right. Haute couturier, Debbie is the designer of the world’s most expensive gown which is actually an abaya! Scroll down to find out more.
In 2013, Debbie debuted what she claims is the world’s most expensive dress adorned with a red diamond worth roughly $17.7 million. Dubbed the “Abaya,” the gown is a simple, loose black gown that Wingham modeled inspired by traditional North African and Arabic women. Debbie was inspired to create the design after visiting Dubai. She said, “The Arabian ladies have a certain elegance to them and the abayas have a certain movement that just captured my imagination. It is a garment that you can add your own twist to, and providing it is honourable and respectful to the culture, it still leaves a large window to adapt and add your own signature flair.”
Debbie added her “signature flair” to the abaya by adorning it with a massive red diamond, an incredibly rare and expensive stone. Wingham had played around with pricey stones a year before, crafting a $5.6 million dress encrusted with black diamonds. Soon after, a client who collects rare stones suggested she include red diamonds in her next design. And she did just that!
Talking about her client, Debbie said, “She came to my atelier when I was working on the black diamond dress and said, ‘Debbie you should have said you were doing this, you could have borrowed something spectacular from me.’ The thought of being able to use a red diamond, a stone that most jewellers don’t even get to see in their lifetime, was too much of a good opportunity to pass by.”
The $7.4 million red diamond, however, was not the only expensive stone Debbie used on the Abaya. The dress boasts 3,000 stones, including 50 2-carat black diamonds, 1,899 black-and-white pointer diamonds and 1,000 pointer rubies. Each of the stones are stitched using a 14-carat gold thread. Unbelievable, right?
Was This Dress Made For Sale?
Talking about the sale of the dress, Debbie said, “The dress will never be sold, it’s a show piece. The red diamond is borrowed, and they are so rare I could never get another one, nor would the private collector ever want to sell.”
We have often seen expensive sarees, lehengas, and cocktail dresses but it is a delight to learn that the world’s most expensive gown is actually a modest abaya. Let’s hope Debbie Wingham continues giving us some iconic pieces like this!
Feature Image: Instagram
