Elizabeth Taylor’s wedding dress – the first of many – for auction

Summer brides with deep pockets may be interested in Elizabeth Taylor's first wedding dress, which goes under the hammer at a Christie's London auction of pop culture on Wednesday. The estimate is £30,000-£50,000 (€35,149-€58,583). The Hollywood star wore the dress for her first wedding, to Conrad "Nicky" Hilton Jr in 1950. Taylor's studio, MGM, boasted that "more stars than there are in heaven" attended, including Greer Garson, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire.

Christie’s said the dress had been “custom-designed with Elizabeth Taylor’s voluptuous figure in mind” and contains 8 metres of shell-white satin embellished with bugle beads and seed pearls, trailed by a three-metre satin train.

Reputedly 15 people worked full-time for between two and three months in order to make it. It was designed by couturier Helen Rose, who also made the

dress Grace Kelly wore for her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco, in 1956. - MP