25 May 2013

Taylor's first wedding dress to be sold

5:16 pm on 25 May 2013

The wedding dress worn by Elizabeth Taylor for her first marriage to hotel heir Conrad Hilton in 1950 will be offered for sale at auction next month.

The garment, created by Hollywood costume designer Helen Rose, is an oystershell-coloured floor-length satin gown with a fine silk gauze off-the-shoulder illusion neckline.

It was a gift from MGM film studios to Taylor, who was then aged 18.

Christie's said on Friday the top estimate of its worth is £50,000.

Taylor died in 2011 at the age of 79. She was married eight times, twice to actor Richard Burton.

She first gained fame in National Velvet (1944) at the age of 12 and was nominated for five Oscars, winnning best actress for Butterfield 8 (1960) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966).

Her jewels were sold at auction in 2011 for $US116 million.