Malaysian Designer to Debut $30 Million Diamond Dress

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed)
Mar 26th 2009 at 6:02PM

Malaysian designer Faisol Abdullah is creating the world's most expensive dress decorated with 751 diamonds from Middle Eastern jeweler Mouawad. The $30 million frock tops Chris Aire's $20 million diamond dress (above) created last year and ties the $30 million diamond bikini in terms of the world's most expensive item of clothing. Abdullah plans to debut the silk and taffeta evening gown, which features a central 70 carat pear-shaped diamond and is dubbed the "Nightingale of Kuala Lumpur," in time for next month's STYLO Fashion festival in the Malaysian capital. Mouawad, which produces Heidi Klum's jewelry line, is a red carpet favorite of Nicole Kidman, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears.

"Stocks drop, gold is even falling but a diamond is forever," Abdullah tells Reuters. "This is a dress with diamonds. Why go backwards, why can't we go forwards? We are going to the fantastic, but its real. You are getting value for money with these diamonds." "It's a security and insurance nightmare buts it's worth it," adds Antoine Bakhache, head of Mouawad's Asia operations. "It's not throwing $30 million right down the drain, it is an investment for the super-rich." Nancy Yeoh, chief executive of STYLO which commissioned the dress, says they plan to present the garment to royal courts around the world starting with the Middle East, noting, "It's art and there are still enough rich people who would want to buy."

Tags: Chris Aire, ChrisAire, diamond, diamonds, dress, Faisol Abdullah, FaisolAbdullah, gown, Kuala Lumpur, KualaLumpur, Malaysia, Middle East, MiddleEast, Mouawad, UAE

Filed under: Apparel, Jewelry

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

William Mar 26th 2009 7:42PM

Buying silver/gold bullion or loose diamonds is an investment, but buying a fashionable item where the designer/manufacturer probably makes a 200% mark up over the actual material value is not.

Besides, what happens when the dress goes out of fashion... did the designer ever think of that?

just me Mar 27th 2009 10:32AM

Diamonds are a commodity and are only worth what you can get for them. If not for the diamond cartels, the world would be flooded with cheap diamonds and this dress would be near valueless. Just a gimmick. A fool and his money...

Harlette De Falaise Apr 18th 2009 2:59AM

Now thats what I call dressing for dinner, given the opportunity every women wants to wear diamonds rather then crystals for cubic zirconia's.

This is a celebration of style hats off to Faisol Abdullah for creating the world's most expensive dress