The white linen shirt in which a brooding Colin Firth was famously soaked to the skin became a fan’s pride and joy last night.
His character Mr Darcy’s outfit from the BBC ’s 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice – which also included his boots, breeches and waistcoat – was tipped to fetch £10,000 at auction. The scene in which Firth’s heart-throb emerges from a pond, startling soon-to-be true love Elizabeth Bennet (Jennifer Ehle), was once voted the UK’s most memorable TV moment.
Other items which went under the hammer in the Lights Camera Auction sale included a 1950s’ Christian Dior gown worn by Madonna in the 1996 movie Evita, tipped to fetch up to £60,000. Johnny Depp’s Ichabod Crane costume from 1999’s Sleepy Hollow, was set to sell for £20,000 to £30,000.
Clothes worn by Depp in 2004 films The Libertine and Finding Neverland were also among 60 items being sold off by Kerry Taylor Auctions of London. The sale was in aid of the Bright Foundation, an arts education charity founded by Oscar winning costume designer John Bright. The items were donated by his costume house, Cosprop. Bright said: “The arts and creativity can shape happier and healthier children.”