Diana, the famous Princess of Wales wedding dress, is on display at Kensington Palace for the first time in more than 25 years.
The Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex have agreed to loan their mother’s romantic silk taffeta wedding dress to historic royal palaces for a temporary exhibition.
Royal Style In The Making opens on June 3rd in the Orangery of the former London home of the Princess, and Diana’s dress with its billowing sleeves, bows and lace flounces will be the main attraction.
Diana’s wedding dress (Royal Collection / PA)
It is exhibited along with its three foot sequined train – the longest in royal history.
Designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel for Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding to the Prince of Wales in 1981, the dress features a waisted bodice in the center, front and back with panels of antique Carrickmacross lace originally belonging to Queen Mary – Charles Great-grandma.
The gently scooped neckline and large puffed sleeves are trimmed with bows and deep taffeta ruffles, a style popularized by the princess in the early 1980s, while the full skirt is worn on a mountain of stiff fishnet petticoats to create its famous silhouette .
The Princess of Wales in her wedding dress with a 25ft train (PA)
The bride’s ivory silk tulle contained 10,000 mother-of-pearl sequins.
Royal Style In The Making will explore the relationship between fashion designers and their royal customers, showcasing a number of items never seen before, including the rare surviving toile for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s coronation gown from 1937.
The toile is a full size working sample of the finished dress created by London-based court designer Madame Handley-Seymour.
It displays gold national emblems that are considered the perfect choice to ensure continuity at the start of the unexpected new reign of George VI. To impersonate after the abdication of Edward VIII.
A restorer of the Historic Royal Palaces prepares the coronation gown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother for the exhibition (Historic Royal Palaces / PA)
Matthew Storey, Exhibition Curator at Historic Royal Palaces, said, “Our summer exhibition at Kensington Palace will spotlight some of the greatest talents in British design whose work has been instrumental in shaping the visual identity of the royal family over the course of the 20th century.
“We will examine how the partnership between each designer and client works, and the process behind creating a number of the most important couture commissions in royal history.
“While one of the highlights will undoubtedly be Diana, the Princess of Wales wedding dress designed by Emanuel and on display at the palace for the first time in 25 years, we have some real surprises in store for fashion fans. “
The neckline of the Princess of Wales dress (Royal Collection / PA)
Diana’s wedding dress was last exhibited at Kensington Palace in 1995, but was later exhibited at her childhood home in Althorp.
– Royal Style In The Making, which runs until January 2, 2022, also features invisible items from the archives of some of the most famous royal couturiers of the 20th century.
Tickets can be purchased at https://www.hrp.org.uk/Kensington-Palace/whats-on/royal-style-in-the-making/#gs.z59c2u
