Royal fans have been looking forward to the arrival of the fourth season of The crown on Netflix – and the day is finally here. In the new series, actress Emma Corrin recreates the moment Princess Diana walked down the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral in her incredible ivory silk taffeta and antique lace dress.
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A few months ago, HELLO! sat down with the late Princess of Wales’ wedding dress designer David Emanuel to discuss their July 1981 wedding Prince Charleswho remains one of the most iconic moments in royal history – and certainly the most memorable dress!
With its record-breaking 25-foot train and 10,000 mother-of-pearl sequins and pearl embellishments, the gorgeous design – valued at £ 151,000 last year – will go down in history.
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At the launch of The Wonder Room at the Bromley Brides boutique in southeast London, the host of Say Yes To The Dress spilled the beans on working with Diana, from the design process to the “cute” personality of the king – and also revealed a little-known fact about the dress.
Here are some of David’s wonderful insights into what it really was like to design Diana’s wedding dress …
All eyes were on Diana when she married Prince Charles in July 1981
Working with Princess Diana was a dream
“You have the most beautiful woman, inside and out. It’s not just the looks and the clothes and the fashion. She was really just cute. She was very young”, Said David, remembering her charming and shy personality.
“There are so many quotes about Diana and a lot of them are nonsense. Diana was so cute, she was young, she blushed.”
The designer was a “natural” choice for Princess Diana
The Princess of Wales contacted David and his ex-wife and former design partner Elizabeth Emanuel after discovering their clothes on the set of a Vogue shoot.
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David said, “I made some dresses for her before the wedding. The first thing you saw in public was the strapless black dress with the sweetheart neckline as she got out of the limo with Prince Charles – everyone snapped Air.
“The next day I got a call from the press office at Buckingham Palace.” Mr. Emanuel, are you responsible for Lady Diana? Thank the Lord. The whole world is ringing! “
Who can forget the 25-foot train when Diana entered St. Paul’s Cathedral?
“That was the start of seven dresses, and then out of the blue she called my studio and said, ‘Would you have the honor of designing my wedding dress?'”
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“It just happened naturally, I was overwhelmed. About a year later she said, ‘You know, every designer in the world sent a portfolio.’ We didn’t do it! “
Princess Diana did not have a large retinue
The late icon was modest during the decorating and always walked alone – until the end. “It was only three of us, myself, my ex-wife and Diana. It happened very organically,” said David.
Diana in David and Elizabeth Emanuel’s famous black dress
“Finally she said, ‘Can I bring someone with me?’ I said, ‘Who?’ She said, ‘My mother’. “If you think about it, you have all these people with big followers and the Princess of Wales just had her mother! As soon as Ms. Shand Kydd saw it and she loved it, we tore the design apart as we didn’t want people to see it. “
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Princess Diana was touched by David’s secret gesture
David shared a little known fact about the dress and revealed that the Princess of Wales was moved when he revealed that he had hired a jeweler to sew a little gold horseshoe into the dress for luck.
A sketch of the dress of the Princess of Wales
About the surprise gesture, David said: “We didn’t tell her until the wedding day. She didn’t know much about the horseshoe, she was very touched. She was traditional.”
The dress was made of antique lace (something old), material from a British silk farm (something new), and it had a little blue bow sewn into the waistband (something blue). The Spencer family’s tiara was, of course, something borrowed.
David shares other secrets in his book A Dress for Diana available from Amazon.
David spoke at the launch of The Wonder Room at Bromley Brides
David wouldn’t change anything about the dress
Designers David and Elizabeth wanted a drama – and royal fans definitely got it. “We wanted drama, we wanted her to look young and fresh. She went in as Lady Diana Spencer and came out as Princess of Wales. I wanted it easy, we sparkled in the veil. St. Pauls is huge, so it is couldn’t have been a quiet little dress, “he explained.
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He believes the trend is still prevalent to this day. “We introduced romance into wedding dresses. And now women come in and ask about ball gowns, they want to make a statement. A full-fledged dress that you want to notice.”
David opened The Wonder Room at Bromley Brides in south east London, a beautiful Alice In Wonderland themed area for future brides to indulge in. To learn more, visit Bromley Brides.
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