Royal Ascot Dress from My Fair Lady Goes Under the Hammer

Latest -  Sold  $3.7 million achieved for the Audrey Hepburn's Royal Ascot dress

Today is Ladies Day at Royal Ascot Racecourse. The Royal Meeting is steeped in almost three centuries of tradition, heritage and prestige. Ladies Day has always been an important showcase for fashion as immortalized in films like My Fair Lady. So what better day to announce the sale of the Cecil Beaton designed black and white gown worn by Audrey Hepburn in the Ascot scenes, in the classic 1960's film. This dress is one lot in what is perhaps the most important collection of film memorabilia ever amassed.It is to go under the hammer at Christies New York in two days time. The items are the personal collection of screen legend Debbie Reynolds, who starred in classic musicals of the golden era such as Singing in the Rain and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. The costumes ,posters and objects amount to more than 3,500 pieces of Hollywood history. The collection, which was displayed in Las Vegas and Hollywood,and includes Judy Garland's blue dress and ruby slippers from 'The Wizard of Oz and Marilyn Monroe's iconic balloon dress from The Seven Year Itch. The collection also includes Barbra Streisand's dresses from Hello Dolly, including the gold encrusted full-length evening gown which was one of Hollywood's most expensive gowns, costing £100,000 to make at the time. Charlie Chaplin's famous  bowler hat, the coat worn by Orson Welles in Citizen Kane and Julie Andrews' governess outfit from the Sound of Music are all part of this treasure trove.
Royal Ascot was developed by Queen Anne who first saw the potential for a racecourse at Ascot. In those days it was called East Cote. Whilst out riding in 1711, she came upon an area of open heath, not far from Windsor Castle, that looked an ideal place for horses to gallop at full stretch. The first race meeting ever held at Ascot took place on Saturday 11 August 1711. Her Majesty's Plate, worth 100 guineas and open to any horse, mare or gelding over the age of six, was the inaugural event. Each horse was required to carry a weight of 12st and seven runners took part. This contest bore little resemblance to racing seen at Ascot today. The seven horses were all English Hunters, quite different to the speedy thoroughbreds that race on the flat now. The race consisted of three separate heats which were four miles long (imagine, one heat was about the length of the Grand National course!), so the winner would have been a horse with tremendous stamina. Sadly, there is no record of the winner of the first plate.Ladies Day at Ascot has been a tradition since Queen Ann.The Royal Enclosure is the most prestigious of the three enclosures, with recent visits from the Queen and Royal Family members. Access to the royal enclosure is restricted with high security on the day. First-time applicants must apply to the Royal Enclosure office and gain membership from someone who has attended the enclosure for at least four years. For existing badgeholders, an invitation is sent out by Her Majesty's Representative to request badges. The badgeholder's name is written onto the badge and can only be used by that person; the colours of the badges vary each day for one day applicants. Those in the Royal Enclosure have the options of fine dining and hospitality and a selection of bars. The dress code is strictly enforced. For ladies, only a day dress with a hat or fascinator is acceptable.

The Debbie Renolds collection is valued at 50 million dollars. Reynolds announced in 2004 she would relocate her collection from Las Vegas and Hollywood to Pigeon Forge, Tenn. But Fisher says a museum project there had to file for bankruptcy protection last year and the collection must be sold to satisfy creditors.
The sale takes place at Christie's New York on 18 June