Amy Winehouse dress sells for over $243,000 at auction

By Karim El-Bar

LONDON (AA) - The dress worn by British soul singer Amy Winehouse during her final stage performance sold for over £180,000 ($243,000) at an auction of her estate.

Winehouse wore the dress in Belgrade in June 2011, a month before she died. The dress sold for 16 times the original estimate.

The iconic singer was 27 when she died from alcohol poisoning at her London home in July 2011.

The proceeds from the auction all went to a foundation set up by Winehouse’s parents in her memory that helps young people suffering from addiction.

Overall, the auction raised over £3 million from over 800 items, which included clothes and accessories as well as handwritten notes.

Many of the items far surpassed pre-auction estimates.

A red leather heart-shaped Moschino bag Winehouse took to the Brit Awards in 2007, the same night she won the British female solo artist award, sold for £152,000, 13 times the pre-auction estimate.

A Dolce & Gabbana dress she wore at a performance sold for £111,000, 30 times its estimate, and a pair of her Christian Louboutin shoes she wore sold for £28,000, 64 times the estimate.

A street sign, made of metal that read “Camden Square” and was covered with handwritten tributes by fans to Winehouse after her death, sold for £14,000.