Sweater Made Famous by Princess Di Is On Sale Again

'Black sheep' crewneck is being reissued by designers Warm and Wonderful
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 16, 2020 10:20 AM CST

Princess Diana's attire was often the subject of tabloid reviews, but what she wore to one particular polo match in 1980 attracted special attention. It was a red wool crewneck sweater designed by Warm and Wonderful, with white sheep scattered across it—except for one black sheep located four rows down. Now, Joanna Osborne and Sally Muir, the British designers who created the piece, have teamed up with American designer Rowing Blazers to reissue the sweater, which hasn't been on store shelves since 1994. "As Princess of Wales, she wore the sweater on several other occasions, eliciting a great deal of press commentary and making the design incredibly popular, not only here in the UK but around the world," the women note in a statement, per CNN.

It was those repeat wearings of the sweater that raised some eyebrows, as people read into it that Diana was labeling herself the black sheep of the British royal family. The Rowing Blazers website—which notes the $295 sweater is in such high demand that it's accepting preorders only, with sweaters set to be delivered starting in January or February—says each wool-nylon sweater takes six hours to create and is "made with love in Portugal from the highest quality yarns." The original sweater worn by Diana, meanwhile, is housed at London's Victoria & Albert Museum as part of its permanent collection. Watch this interview with Osbourne and Muir on how they first met, and on the "unbelievable" day when they opened up the newspapers and saw Princess Diana wearing their sheep sweater. (More Princess Diana stories.)

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