Lady Diana Spencer Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

's wedding dress was an ivory silk

taffeta Taffeta (archaically spelled taffety or taffata) is a crisp, smooth, plain woven fabric made from silk, cuprammonium rayons, acetate, and polyester. The word is Persian (تافته) in origin and means "twisted woven". As clothing, it is used in ...

and antique lace

gown A gown, from the Saxon word, ''gunna'', is a usually loose outer garment from knee-to-full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the Early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the term ''gown ...

, with a

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

and a tulle veil, valued then at £9,000 (). It was worn at Diana's wedding to Charles, Prince of Wales in 1981 at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

. It became one of the most famous dresses in the world, and was considered one of the most closely guarded secrets in fashion history.

Design

The dress was designed by

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

and

Elizabeth Emanuel Elizabeth Florence Emanuel (née Weiner, born 5 July 1953) is a British fashion designer who is best known for designing, with her former husband David Emanuel, the wedding dress worn by Lady Diana Spencer on her wedding to Prince Charles in ...

, who described it as a dress that "had to be something that was going to go down in history, but also something that Diana loved", and which would be "suitably dramatic in order to make an impression". Diana personally selected the designers to make her wedding dress because she was fond of a chiffon blouse they designed for her formal photo session with

Lord Snowdon Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, (7 March 1930 – 13 January 2017), was a British photographer and filmmaker. He is best known for his portraits of world notables, many of them published in ''Vogue'', ''Vanity Fai ...

. The woven silk

was made by Stephen Walters of

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. The Emanuels consulted Maureen Baker, who had made the first wedding dress of Princess Anne, during their construction of the gown. One observer wrote "the dress was a

crinoline A crinoline is a stiff or structured petticoat designed to hold out a woman's skirt, popular at various times since the mid-19th century. Originally, crinoline described a stiff fabric made of horsehair ("crin") and cotton or linen which was ...

, a symbol of sexuality and grandiosity, a meringue embroidered with pearls and sequins, its bodice frilled with lace". The gown was decorated with hand

embroidery Embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as pearls, beads, quills, and sequins. In modern days, embroidery is usually seen on c ...

sequins A sequin () is a small, typically shiny, generally disk-shaped ornament. Sequins are also referred to as paillettes, spangles, or ''diamanté'' (also spelled ''diamante''). Although the words sequins, paillettes, lentejuelas, and spangles can ...

, and 10,000 pearls, centering on a heart motif. An 18-karat gold

horseshoe A horseshoe is a fabricated product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toen ...

was stitched into the

petticoat A petticoat or underskirt is an article of clothing, a type of undergarment worn under a skirt or a dress. Its precise meaning varies over centuries and between countries. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', in current British Engl ...

s as a sign of good fortune. The lace used to trim it was antique and hand-made and a square of

Carrickmacross lace Carrickmacross lace is a form of lace that may be described as decorated net. A three-layer 'sandwich' is made consisting of the pattern (at the bottom), covered with, first, machine-made net and then fine muslin, through which the pattern can ...

which had belonged to Queen Mary was attached to the gown. A petite blue bow was also sewn into the interior of the gown's waistband as her " something blue". In contrast, the

wedding dress of Catherine Middleton The wedding dress worn by Catherine Middleton at her wedding to Prince William on 29 April 2011 was designed by English designer Sarah Burton, creative director of the luxury fashion house Alexander McQueen. The dress and its maker were not f ...

, for her marriage to

Prince William William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educat ...

, Diana's elder son, incorporated motifs cut from machine-made lace appliquéd to silk net. The dress featured "lace flounces adorning neckline and sleeves". Diana Spencer wedding dress

Fittings of the dress posed difficulties because Diana had developed

bulimia Bulimia nervosa, also known as simply bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging or fasting, and excessive concern with body shape and weight. The aim of this activity is to expel the body of calories eate ...

and dropped from a size 14 to a size 10 in the months leading up to the wedding. Even the seamstress was concerned about her weight loss and feared the dress might not fit as it should. The twenty-five-foot train posed problems. According to writer Andrew Morton, in ''Diana: Her True Story'', the gown's designers realized too late that they had forgotten to allow for the train's length in relation to the size of the glass coach Diana and her father rode in to the ceremony. They found it difficult to fit inside the glass coach, and the train was badly crushed despite Diana's efforts. This accounted for the visible wrinkles in the wedding gown when she arrived at the cathedral. Diana also had a spare wedding dress, which would have acted as a stand-in if the dress' design was revealed before her big day. The Emanuels also created a parasol in a matching taffeta to be used by Diana in case the wedding day turned out to be rainy.

Reception and influence

The dress set wedding fashion trends after the wedding. Large puffed sleeves, a full skirt and "soft touch fabrics" became popular requests. Copies by other dressmakers were available "within hours" of the 1981 wedding. Many bridal experts considered the dress a "gold standard" in wedding fashion in the years after the wedding. Continued appreciation for the dress was not universal. One 2004 bridal magazine listed it as "too much dress, too little princess." Nevertheless, Elizabeth Emanuel noted in 2011 that she still received requests for replicas of Diana's dress. In his 2003 memoir, ''A Royal Duty'',

Paul Burrell Paul Burrell (born 6 June 1958) is a former servant of the British Royal Household and latterly butler to Princess Diana. Background and Royal Household career Burrell was born and raised in Grassmoor, Derbyshire, a coal-mining village. His ...

wrote that Diana had wanted the dress to be part of the fashion collection of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

. The dress toured for many years with the exhibition "Diana: A Celebration", though generally it stayed for only part of the exhibit.

Althorp House Althorp (popularly pronounced ) is a Grade I listed stately home and estate in the civil parish of Althorp, in West Northamptonshire, England of about . By road it is about northwest of the county town of Northampton and about northwest of ...

, Northampton was the prime display location for the dress. Diana's dress transferred ownership from her brother to her sons in 2014 because she had requested that her belongings be handed back to them when they both turned 30. Her engagement ring was given to

, while the wedding dress' ownership was given to both Prince William and

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...

. In 2018, the dress was chosen as one of the "Most Influential British Royal Wedding Dresses of All Time" by ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine. In 2021, it went on display at Kensington Palace as a part of the "Royal Style in the Making" exhibition.

References

External links

Diana: The Exhibition page about the wedding
{{British Royal wedding dresses 1980s fashion British royal attire Diana, Princess of Wales House of Windsor Spencer, Diana 1981 clothing Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer

Design

Reception and influence

See also

References

Further reading

External links