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Black Sheep
By Uknitted Kingdom
In September 2023 the world’s most expensive handknitted
sweater sold at Sotheby’s in New York, to an unknown
bidder, for an incredible $1.14 million.
The estimated auction price expected was a ‘mere’ $50k
to $80k.
To warrant this value one might be forgiven for expecting
the sweater to have been spun and knitted using the
Golden Fleece from the ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ myth.
In reality, the sweater was owned and worn (only twice in
public) by the late Diana, Princess of Wales (b. 1961 d.
1997).
Traditionally, members of the British Royal Family, especially
women, are expected to, “never complain, never explain,”
and have arguably always had their freedom to
speak curtailed for fear of offending dignitaries, politicians,
and/or their subjects. Possibly, as a result, many of the
Royal ladies have used clothing and accessories as a
means to do the talking for them, affording them plausible
deniability. One only has to research the late Queen Elizabeth
II’s ‘handbag codes’ to see the extent of this.
Diana, Princess of Wales, was well known for sending
messages via her clothing. Her “revenge dress” being the
most famous example.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge_dress
Another equally notorious clothing message was Diana’s
“black sheep” sweater. Diana first wore this sweater in public
in 1981 just one month before her marriage to the
(then) Prince, Charles Windsor.
The sweater was purchased from ‘Warm and Wonderful’
https://warmandwonderful.com/ and had been designed
by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne. The design was a simple
crew neck sweater with adapted drop-sleeves, in red,
with white sheep with black eyes, and one lone black
sheep. The hand knit
sweaters were sold until
1994.
At the time of first wearing,
the British and world media
were obsessed with Lady
Diana Spencer, her upcoming
marriage to the heir to
the British throne, her hair,
her clothes, her car, her
friends, her job, all were scrutinised,
opined upon, and regurgitated
to the world with
a side plate of hysteria and
obsession.
To the media, the
message Diana
was sending was
clear and, in retrospect,
spookily prophetic.
The sweater symbolised Diana’s feelings of being
an outsider, the figurative black sheep of the Royal Family.
In public, at least, Diana only wore the sweater once
more, two years later, in 1983. This time the media claimed
it was to further cement her feelings of isolation from the
Family. Much of this was made in the 2020 fourth season of
“The Crown,” where Emma Corrin wore a replica.
Possibly in tandem with The Crown episode(s), Warm
and Wonderful reissued the renamed, “Diana Edition
Sheep Sweater” design in 2020 and it is currently on sale
for £270 GBP.
At the time of filming The Crown’s ‘black sheep’ episode(s)
the location of
Diana’s own sweater was unknown.
However, in a fortuitous
twist, in March 2023
the sweater was found in the
attic of the original designers.
Along with it were
two letters from Buckingham
Palace.
In the first letter, dated
1983, Diana had requested
the sweater be mended or
replaced after it had become damaged. A new sweater
was sent to her and a second letter thanking the designers
was sent.
It was this new sweater that Diana wore in 1983; therefore
each version of the sweater was only aired in public
once. The original damaged sweater languished, forgotten,
in the attic for over four decades.
It is this damaged, original hand-knit which sold, alongside
the two verifying letters, for $1.4 million. The whereabouts
of the second sweater is currently unknown.
It’s interesting to ponder on how this sweater would be
interpreted now, if Catherine, the current Princess of
Wales, was to wear it.
In modern times the notion of the ‘black sheep’ has
been labelled by some as ‘racist.’ In Britain, in 1986, activists
attempted and failed to ban the 1744 nursery rhyme
“Baa Baa Black Sheep.” The original rhyme (below) was interpreted
as being racist and a celebration of colonialism
and transatlantic slavery.
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