Photography via Dougal McGuire/Flickr
If your childhood was like ours and therefore marked with memories of ruby slippers, munchkins and lions and tigers and bears, oh my, then you fellow Wizard of Oz fans can rejoice as some fashionable Oz news has been announced.
It has been revealed that the blue and white gingham dress that Judy Garland made popular in her role as Dorothy in the 1939 version of Wizard of Oz is going up for auction on November 9 in Los Angeles. The dress is part of Julien’s Auctions’ Icons and Idols 2012: Hollywood auction and is expected to sell for half a million dollars, according to British Vogue.
The dress is one of a few that have remained intact since the film’s release, and has a starting bid of a cool $200,000. As much as we’d love to purchase this iconic dress, we’re hoping whoever has the serious bills to spend on it will wear it for every Halloween from now on. We certainly did when we were younger, (a much cheaper version of course) and would only imagine a true fan would do the same.
But if you’re not willing to drop big bucks on the dress, you can always get a closer look before it goes up on the block. A second gingham dress worn by Judy Garland in the film will be on display at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum during their Hollywood Costume exhibit, which begins next week on October 20.
And if that’s not enough to make you want to prance down the yellow brick road with excitement, contain yourself because the Smithsonian Museum in Washington has loaned out Dorothy’s infamous ruby red slippers to the exhibit as well. The slippers – which attract millions to the Smithsonian every year – have been loaned to the Victoria and Albert for only a month; so go off to see the slippers, the wonderful slippers from Oz!
