Princess Diana’s Iconic Wedding Dress Is Getting a ‘Modern’ Makeover
Prepare for a “modern” take on Princess Diana’s wedding dress from 1981. More than 40 years later, Elizabeth Emanuel, who designed the original with David Emanuel, is giving Diana’s wedding dress a “sequel.” And, yes, there will be plenty of “sparkles and pearls.”
Diana’s wedding dress designer is creating a ‘sequel’ with a ‘completely different vision’
The husband and wife design team of David and Elizabeth Emanuel created Diana’s wedding dress for her nuptials to now-King Charles III. Decades later, it’s being reimagined. Elizabeth,
It’s getting a “sequel,” as Elizabeth told People, adding she’s going to “climb back into the time machine” and make something modern.
“I’m going to try and capture the spirit of the original—but through my eyes now,” Elizabeth said. “I want to preserve all the sparkles and pearls, but with a completely different vision.”
“It’s a really exciting thing because I often get asked, ‘Would you do the same dress again?’” she continued. “Well, I wouldn’t change a thing on the dress in 1981. But if I was looking at it through my eyes now, there’s so many possibilities.”
Common questions about Diana’s wedding dress, answered
Next are answers to some of the most-asked questions about Diana’s wedding dress. To start, who owns Diana’s wedding dress? The answer is her sons, Prince William, 41, and Prince Harry, 39.
The Prince of Wales and Duke of Sussex took ownership of the dress in 2014 because Diana requested in her will that her belongings, including her wedding dress, be transferred to them when they were both 25, which was amended to 30.
Previously, Diana’s brother and William and Harry’s maternal uncle, Charles Spencer, had possession of the dress.
Next: Where is Diana’s wedding dress on display? The answer, at the time of writing, is unfortunately nowhere. At least not in person.
The virtual Princess Diana Museum, for which Emanuel is reworking the iconic look, has a section on the “wedding of the century.” However, there’s nowhere to see the real thing on display. A glimpse of Emma Corrin in a reproduction is seen in The Crown Season 4.
It may not be long before Diana’s wedding dress is available for the public to see. It was last on display in 2022 at Kensington Palace for Royal Style in the Making and is known to travel around the world as part of exhibitions.
A reproduction of Diana’s ‘backup’ wedding dress is on display at the virtual Princess Diana Museum
One outfit from Diana’s wedding is a second dress. Yes, a second dress. Elizabeth revealed she and her ex-husband created a “backup” dress for Diana as a precautionary measure.
“I was a bit neurotic, and I thought, ‘What happens if somebody breaks in and steals the dress or something spills or there’s a fire or it gets stolen?’” Elizabeth said. “So I thought, ‘I’m gonna make a backup dress.’”
The inspiration came from a pink gown the Emanuels made for Diana to wear to a private ball shortly before her wedding. It didn’t have a long train like the original. The silk fabric was white, “not the deep ivory that the royal wedding dress was made of,” she recalled. The second dress also had “slim” sleeves, “more fitted to her arms” with frilly cuffs.
Noting the spare dress was never completed, Elizabeth reproduced the “backup” look now on display at the virtual Princess Diana Museum.
“We never got to see that dress on Diana and thought it would be lovely to envision it,” Renae Plant, the museum’s director and curator, said. “You cannot put a price tag on history.”
