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Bride to wear $300,000 diamond gown
Friday, July 18, 2003 Posted: 4:37 PM EDT (2037 GMT)




This is well above and beyond the usual.
-- John D'Agostino, Francesca Custom Apparel


NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A bride from Brooklyn will this summer wear what could be America's most expensive wedding gown, a white dress adorned with 1,100 glittering diamonds and worth $300,000, an assistant to the designer said on Thursday.

The gown has diamonds totaling 300 carats individually hand stitched onto the silk material made for the 23-year-old woman.

The mystery bride did not want her name or the wedding date publicized, said designer Anthony La Bate's assistant, John D'Agostino of Francesca Custom Apparel shop in Brooklyn.

The woman's father paid for the dress.

D'Agostino said La Bate's wedding gowns usually run between $1,000 and $10,000. "This is well above and beyond the usual," he said.

Mindy Woon, buyer and assistant manager of the bridal salon at the upscale department store Bergdorf Goodman, said the most expensive gown it sells is for about $40,000.

"I've never heard of a gown that high," Woon said. "That's probably three times what most people spend on their entire wedding."

The dress is in two pieces. The bottom part, a ballgown, can be removed for a more form-fitting, sleek look.

La Bate designs between 300 and 400 wedding gowns a year, D'Agostino said. He has also designed ornate Rabbinical robes and dresses for Miss America contestants.