Sixty-three of Princess Diana’s show-stopping outfits on what would have been her 63rd birthday… including the dress that sent a clear message to Camilla
When Diana Spencer became engaged to Prince Charles, she confessed to having only ‘one long dress, one silk shirt, one smart pair of shoes, and that was it’.
Consequently, she hurriedly purchased ‘six of everything’ ahead of her royal wedding in 1981.
On the big day, the bride made her grand entrance at St Paul’s Cathedral in an ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown, featuring a dramatic 25-foot train, by David and Elizabeth Emanuel.
Diana handpicked the designer duo to create her outfit after taking a liking to a chiffon blouse they had provided for a formal photo session with Lord Snowdon.
The Emanuels 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’.
Indeed, it did. But so did many other outfits that Diana wore over the years.
They included the iconic ‘Revenge Dress’ – showcased on the same night in 1994 that Prince Charles confessed to his affair with Camilla – and the polyester frock she wore for Live Aid, seemingly a deliberate choice to provoke her love rival.
Below, we look back at Diana’s enduring style legacy on what would have been her 63rd birthday.
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When Diana Spencer became engaged to Prince Charles , she confessed to having only ‘one long dress, one silk shirt, one smart pair of shoes, and that was it’. Consequently, she hurriedly purchased ‘six of everything’ ahead of her royal wedding in 1981. On the big day at St Paul’s Cathedral, the bride stunned in an ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown, featuring a dramatic 25-foot train, by David and Elizabeth Emanuel
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Easily one of her most unforgettable dresses, this Christina Stambolian dress became known as the
Revenge Dress’ when Diana wore it in 1994 on the night that her husband admitted to an affair with the then Camilla Parker Bowles. Diana wore the dress to a glitzy fundraising dinner at the Serpentine Gallery. Royal writer Tina Brown even described it in her 2007 book The Diana Chronicles as her ‘f*** you dress’
