Paris: Public Showing of Diana’s Dresses

On show for the first time.

Some of Princess Diana’s most iconic dresses.

They are to be seen in Paris, the city where she died in a car crash in 1996, before being auctioned in London next month.

Taken from the royal archives of dressmakers David and Elizabeth Emanuel, these are the gowns that introduced Diana to the public.

She exploded onto the world stage when she wore this black dress on her first outing after the announcement of her engagement to Prince Charles.

She was instantly transformed from a shy, nursery school teacher to fairytale princess.

The dress became an instant hit, but not everyone was happy with it, including Diana’s future husband, says auctioneer Kerry Taylor.             
[Kerry Taylor, Kerry Taylor Auctions]:            
„Prince Charles was not best pleased with the gown because first of all it was black, and black is normally a colour only worn for mourning by members of the royal family, or it was at that time, and so when she looked… when she emerged looking voluptuous at his study door holding her little rose and looking amazing, instead of saying ‚Darling, you’re wonderful, you look wonderful‘, he just said, you know, ‚Why are you wearing black?'“

In the lead-up to her wedding, the dress for the big day underwent a number of alterations, as Diana shed her weight.

[Kerry Taylor, Kerry Taylor Auctions]:             
„Princess Diana lost a lot of weight, she lost about two inches from her waist from the first fitting to the last fitting.  And because the silk had all been hand-made, in England, specially hand-woven, there was a finite supply of it. So they couldn’t just keep making another dress in silk and another and another so the toile, which is the prototype -this is what you see behind me – which is in calico, and it’s an exact rendition of the dress she wore on the day.“

Other items up for auction include intricate sketches of the wedding gown, invoices for the bride and bridesmaid’s dresses and letters exchanged between Diana’s mother, Frances Shand Kydd, and the dressmakers.

Foto: NTDTV