Diana’s wedding dress: what the creators of the Star missed

Diana Spencer’s dress, in which she married Charles, Prince of Wales on July 29, 1981, went down in history as one of the most famous wedding dresses. Diana, who was preparing to celebrate her 20th birthday, was not yet a style icon – the royal court took serious care of the girl’s wardrobe. But stubborn Diana chose the designer for the “dress of the century” herself – and subsequently the only person Lady Di consulted with about the outfit was her mother.

With young London designers David and Elizabeth Emmanuel, Diana was introduced by the editor-in-chief of British Voque after her engagement. A few years before this acquaintance, they had opened their Fashion House and were full of ideas and ambitious plans. David later recalled that Diana was then looking for a beautiful dress – and won him over with her shyness and good manners.

The couple’s first collaboration with the future Princess of Wales was Diana’s black dress with a ruffled neckline, which her friend wore for her first major appearance as Charles’s bride at a dinner in honor of the Princess of Monaco in the spring of 1981. The spectacular outfit almost caused a serious row with the groom – she did not like with black color – the color of sadness – and also an overly honest style. As Diana later recalled, the attention of the entire press was drawn to her exposed shoulders. Fortunately, for Diana’s wedding dress, the designers chose a less daring cut that was in line with Buckingham Palace’s vision of what a princess should look like when she gets married.

As the wedding took place at St. Paul’s Cathedral, both the bride and the designers wanted the outfit to fit her scale. It was meant to be “dramatic” and emphasize Diana’s beauty. “The dress had to be such that it would be preserved in history and at the same time make Diana happy. As the ceremony was to take place at St Paul’s Cathedral, the dress had to fill the aisle and be quite impressive,” Elizabeth wrote in her 2006 book A Dress for Diana.

The Emmanuel couple studied the archives of royal weddings and found that the record for the length of the train was 20 feet – 6 meters and for a little while, the future Princess of Wales was offered to extend it by 5 feet (1.5 meters). The almost 8-meter train of Diana’s dress made history – no British monarch has ever broken this record. The designers did not fail: the train, which took about 130 meters of fabric, looked really luxurious both on the steps of the cathedral and inside the building. It is said that for rehearsals on Lady Dee, a train was made from a dozen sheets – and she learned to wear it.

The veil, which was attached to the headdress of the Spencer family from the 18th century, took up almost 140 meters of fabric. For the pleating, they used vintage hand-made lace that once belonged to Elizabeth II’s grandmother, Mary of Teck – according to tradition in Britain, there should be something “old” in the bride’s outfit.

The dress, with its long ruffled sleeves, crinoline, and lace bodice, was made of vast quantities of expensive ivory-colored silk taffeta, adorned with ten thousand sea pearls and thousands of mother-of-pearl sequins. The designers and Diana didn’t take into account one thing: taffeta is an incredibly squishy material. And when the bride arrived at the place of marriage in a bridal carriage, in which the crinoline and train barely fit, she already looked very disheveled. Some thought it was quite cute, but later many saw a bad omen in this situation with Diana’s dress.

Princess Diana herself is said to have dreamed that her wedding dress would become part of the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition. But in the end, she bequeathed the “dress of the century” to her sons. After Lady Di’s death and until the day Prince Harry turned 30 (this condition appeared in the will), her brother Charles Spencer was the guardian of the famous outfit. Sometimes famous dresses “travel” around the world, they can be seen at exhibitions.

Emmanuelle, Diana’s famous wedding dress, had a double. Its designers created it in case the design of the “main” outfit gets into the hands of the press and becomes public knowledge even before the ceremony. The style of the second dress was similar, as was the piping, only with a more pronounced V-neckline and no antique lace. Diana never tried to back up and the Emmanuelles never finished it – there wasn’t enough time.

The fate of this dress is unknown. As Elizabeth told the Daily Mail, the clothes were kept in the studio for a long time and then disappeared. According to her, maybe they sold it to someone and forgot about it. But some believe the designer is hiding something: how can you forget the twin of your most famous creation?

Also, the couple then made another duplicate – for Madame Tussauds. In 2005, the British auction house Cooper Owen put a copy of Diana’s wedding dress up for auction – it was bought by an anonymous collector for $175,000 (double the original price). According to Elisabeth Emmanuel, what was sold in the auction was not a “spare” dress, but a duplicate made for Tussauds.

Another “official” replica of Lady Diana’s dress was made in the 21st century by costume designer Amy Roberts for the television series The Crown. During the work, she consulted with Emmanuelles – every detail and every pearl was discussed. The wedding dress in the series is an exact copy of the famous Emmanuelle.