Kate's see-through dress goes up for auction

Kate Middleton's Fashion choices are in the spotlight since her engagement to Prince William. Now a famous dress from the University Middleton's years are the hottest item at an auction - a few weeks before the royal wedding.

The transparent dress modeled Middleton in 2002 at a charity fashion show at St. Andrews University, Scotland will go up for sale at Kerry Taylor Auctions in March. The knitted mesh slip was designed in 2000 by Charlotte Todd, who was a fashion and textile design student at the University of the West of England.

The piece was part of the Todd project entitled "The Art of Seduction."

"I like to call myself a royal matchmaker, Todd, 31, told The Associated Press. "It's definitely a show stopping dress. I would like to think I played my role in history and the history of fashion."

William reportedly 200 pounds (U.S. $ 317) paid for a front-row seat at the Charity Show, which was one of the first times he saw Middleton - then 20 years old.

The dress, which Todd said will cost about 30 pounds (U.S. $ 48) to make, was originally designed as a skirt. Middleton instead modeled as a strapless dress which revealed her black lacy lingerie.

Since 2002, Todd, who now works in an aquarium, the dress is kept hidden in a cupboard, not anticipating its importance.

"I would like to know what Kate thinks now and what the royal family thinks it, whether she was seeing those pictures," she said.