Designer recreates a dress for Princess Diana, who she feels was misrepresented by ‘The Crown’

Designer recreates a dress for Princess Diana, who she feels was misrepresented by ‘The Crown’

The dress was originally designed for Diana to wear at a Buckingham Palace party a few days before her marriage

By AP Published: Sun 27 Nov 2022, 3:40 PM Last updated: Sun 27 Nov 2022, 3:50 PM

This is a dress with a story, and Elizabeth Emanuel wants to tell it.

Shocking pink with a plunging, ruffled neckline and body-hugging shape, the gown was designed by Emanuel for Lady Diana Spencer to wear at a Buckingham Palace party a few days before her marriage to Prince Charles in 1981. It was a visual coming-out event for the future princess, until then largely known for her conservative sweater-and-pearls look.

“This was definitely not a wallflower dress,” said Emanuel, who also designed Diana’s wedding gown. “This was a dress to be seen in and celebrated.”

It was also soon forgotten. In an era before smartphones put a camera in everyone’s pocket and social media made private events public, the dress was mostly seen by the party guests, including Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Grace and Nancy Reagan, but no one else. Emanuel doesn’t know where it is, or even if it still exists.

So she has recreated it, out of bolts of shiny, satin taffeta cut and stitched to