Elizabeth Taylor dresses, accessories to be auctioned

NEW YORK, Sept 21, 2011 (AFP) - Some 400 dresses and accessories that belonged to the late US film star Elizabeth Taylor will be auctioned in December, as well as more than 200 pieces of her jewelry.

Christie's auction house said Tuesday that the December event will include dresses, shoes and handbags that span 50 years in the life of the Hollywood star, including items by Chanel, Christian Dior and Versace.

It will include the wedding dresses she wore when she married Richard Burton, in 1964 and again in 1975, and the gown she wore to the 1992 Oscars, when she was given a special award for her support for the fight against AIDS.

The most expensive dress -- the one from her first marriage -- is expected to go for $40,000 to $60,000.

"Many of the pieces in this lifetime collection were couture, custom made for Ms Taylor by designers who became her close friends," said Meredith Etherington-Smith of Christie's.

The auction of the dresses on December 14-15 will follow a jewelry auction on December 13-14, which will bring together 269 necklaces, diamond rings, brooches and earrings valued at more than $30 million.

A ruby and diamond necklace designed by Elizabeth Taylor and incorporating a 16th-century pearl that once belonged to Spanish royalty is expected to go for $2-3 million.

Taylor, famed as much for her glamorous but stormy love life as her five-decade Oscar-winning film career, died on March 23 at the age of 79.

She won two Academy Awards for best actress, including in the 1966 classic "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" one of many films she played opposite Burton.