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Photos: The 10 most expensive dresses of all time

An Oscar-winning actress was paid $2 million to wear one of these gowns

By , Houston ChronicleUpdated
9. CALVIN KLEIN: $150,000 Lupita Nyong'o arrived at the Oscars wearing a dress made of roughly more than 6,000 pearls. It was later stolen from her dressing room, only to be returned days later. 
9. CALVIN KLEIN: $150,000
Lupita Nyong'o arrived at the Oscars wearing a dress made of roughly more than 6,000 pearls. It was later stolen from her dressing room, only to be returned days later. 
Chris Pizzello/Associated Press

Art dealers may want keep a sharp eye out for smart sartorial investments.

Stock photo agency Getty Images has released a ranking of the 10 most expensive dresses of all time, and, spoiler alert, the No. 1 gown cost a whopping $5.6 million at auction in 2011.

Among the fashion industry's most expensive exports are also memorable moments in history. At No. 7 is the late Princess Diana. Her 1985 dance with John Travolta at the White House, as President Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy looked on, likely influenced the price tag on her custom midnight-blue velvet gown by Victor Edelstein.

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Legendary King Features photographer Mary Joe Connolly also claimed a place on the roster for her outfit at an interview on the Frances Langford-Don Ameche television show in 1952. The $500,000 wedding dress she donned was made of 100,000 cultured pearls and was auctioned to the Damon Runyon Cancer Fund by the Imperial Cultured Pearl Syndicate. At the time it was valued at $100,000.

The dress was the mere anchor for an overall ultra-costly outfit. She also sported "four strands of pearls valued at $250,000, a purse valued at $40,000, bracelet at $40,000, earrings at $15,000, pin at $10,000, ring at $10,000, and a single solitaire pearl valued at $35,000," Getty reports. And the prices on those accessories are pre-inflation, at 1952 prices.

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"Those two pistols say she isn't going anywhere with all that stuff," the caption on the historic photo reads, describing the two guards who flanked Connolly as she posed.

Others on the list bring personal flair and high-priced styles, too, including a dress worn by Amal Clooney to another flaunted by Nicole Kidman, who was reportedly paid $2 million to walk the red carpet in an haute couture gown.

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