Princess Diana Gowns Can Be Seen For First Time In 30 Years

A midlands auctioneer says they want to celebrate her life and legacy.

Members of public can catch a glimpse of three of Princess Diana's gowns in County Kildare from today.

The items - which haven't been seen in public for 30 years - are going on display at the Museum of Style Icons at Newbridge Silverware.

They're being temporarily added to a collection that already contains her famous black revenge dress.

Athlone's Martin Nolan from Julien's auction house says they want celebrate the life and legacy of the would-be queen:

The ‘Princess Diana – Fashion from the Wardrobe of The People’s Princess’ will run throughout the summer and is free to enter.

These three owned and worn garments were last seen in public when they were auctioned by Christie’s in 1997.  

One of the items is the scarlet red silk Bruce Oldfield gown, which was worn by Princess Diana while attending the film premiere of Hot Shots at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, in November of 1991 which was attended by President Arpad Goncz of Hungry and his wife Szusza.

The gown has a draped short sleeve bodice with a slender fitting ruching to the waist and hips with an all over lamé tartan motif.

Julien’s Auctions have estimated the value of the dress between $200,000 - $400,000.

There are also two Catherine Walker dresses, an English designer, who created garments for Princess Diana for 16 years and she also designed the black cocktail dress that she was laid to rest in.

The first of the garments to go on display is a black and white strapless gown which was worn by Princess Diana to a private function.

The gown, which is estimated at between $60,000 - $80,000, is composed of white silk crepe with bold bands of black silk velvet with a graduated hemline and silk lining.

The second is an evening gown worn by Princess Diana to a gala dinner at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto in 1986.

The dress, which is valued at $100,0000, has a fitted black faille bodice with a décolleté neckline and off the shoulder short sleeves with a draped jade silk skirt with fringed sash and side slit.

The three visiting garments will be shown alongside the Museum of Style Icon’s permanent Princess Diana exhibits which include the famous pale pink Emanuel blouse Diana famously wore in the official engagement portrait by Lord Snowdon in 1981.

The photograph of a young, Diana wearing the blouse was originally commissioned as part of a Vogue feature on ‘upcoming beauty’.  

It is reported that Diana walked into the shoot and headed straight for the garment with its distinctive satin neck ribbon.

The designers of the piece were then the little-known designers, husband and wife design duo, David and Elizabeth Emanuel, who were also chosen to design the wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer for her marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales.    

Naturally then, the wedding was a huge affair and was televised with an estimated 700 million people worldwide tuning in to see ‘the dress’. It was made of ivory silk, pure taffeta and incorporated antique lace, 10,000 pearls and had a 25ft train. 

Numerous bodice changes had to be made by David and Elizabeth Emanuel as Diana continued to lose weight in the weeks leading up to the wedding day.

“Diana, like many nervous brides, must have lost about a stone and a half in weight during the run-up to the wedding,” said Elizabeth Emanuel.  “The actual gown was only made up in silk based on this final toile at the last possible moment to ensure the most accurate fit and as there was a limited amount of the specially woven silk available.”

After the dress was made, some silk was left over and the Emanuel’s made a miniature copy of the royal wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses.

The miniatures were made at a scale of 1/8th of the original dress size and were created using cut-offs from the original bridal silk and lace, mounted onto miniature mannequins.  

The miniatures are on display at Newbridge Silverware and feature mini versions of the three bridesmaid dresses similar to those worn by India Hicks, Clementine Hambro and Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones.

The so called ‘India Dress’ is also on display at the museum and is a Catherine Walker, Mughal inspired lavishly embroidered pink silk evening gown and bolero, made for the state visit to India, in February 1992.  

It was during this visit that Diana was famously photographed sitting alone at the Taj Mahal – the monument to lost love, which caused a good deal of comment and speculation in the press at the time.

Her official separation from Prince Charles was to be announced in December of the same year.

The Princess was photographed wearing this gown by Lord Snowdon in 1997 and is one of the most lavish of all her gowns.  

Labelled ‘Catherine Walker, London’, the sleeveless gown with deep scooped neckline and long princess-line bodice is delicately embroidered to the dropped waistline.  

It has three dimensional exotic blooms in looped and satin stitched silk, layered pink sequins, centred by amber, green and pink crystal beads and is scattered with small white floral shaped sequins against a green iridescent sequined background with gold chain stitched leaves.

The bolero jacket is embroidered front and back and is lined with ivory satin.

The plain silk cuffs each have three large buttons inset with emerald and pink rhinestones.

William Doyle, CEO of Newbridge Silverware, said, “Princess Diana was much loved all around the world, her fashion and style make her one of the most enduring style icons of all time and we are delighted to work with Julien’s Auctions to bring these three very important Princess Diana garments to Ireland.”

Darren Julien, founder and President of Julien’s Auctions, said, “Julien’s Auctions is honored to bring these three rare and important garments worn by the beloved icon and cultural figure Princess Diana to the Museum of Style Icons in Ireland. As they haven’t been seen in over 30 years, we expect that there will be huge global interest in this property, and we are looking forward to showcasing them to the public before our ‘Legends” auction with TCM on the 26th and 27th of August.”