A few she did not wear during filming; they are referred to as “test” dresses.
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The blue and white chequered pinafore was made to try and make 17-year-old Garland look younger for her role as 12-year-old Dorothy.
The dress, which is described as having sweat stains around the neck but being in good condition, finally sold for $1,565,000 to an unidentified phone bidder.
However, another dress worn by the blonde actress in “River of No Return”, was withdrawn from the auction as it missed the minimum Bonhams estimate of $300,000.
“But the great pieces should bring a lot of money”, Catherine Williamson, Bonhams’ director of entertainment memorabilia, said after the hammer fell.
The buyer has not been identified.
The dress last sold at an auction in 2012 for $490,000.
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Several dresses were created for Judy Garland to wear in the film. In 2014, at Bonham’s, the Cowardly Lion costume from the movie, which was worn by actor Bert Lahr, along with a likeness of Lahr’s face that had been sculpted, went for almost $3.1 million. The dress was chief highlight in a sale of nearly 400 pieces of Hollywood memorabilia organized by the auction house and Turner Classic Movies that netted total sales of more than $4 million. Researchers believe that there were four pairs of the ruby-red slippers made.
