7 Facts You Didn’t Know About Princess Diana’s Wedding Dress
From every tiny lace detail to the massive train, it’s tough to tell the series’ replica from the original design, worn by the Princess of Wales on her wedding day in 1981
On July 29, 1981 a young Diana Spencer left audiences around in the world in awe as she walked down the the aisle of London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral to marry Prince Charles in a jaw-dropping fairytalesque gown.
Almost 20 years later Netflix’s award-winning series, The Crown, brings us back to that moment by replicating one of the world’s most iconic wedding dresses of all time. Bazaar reveals all the facts surrounding the original wedding dress, the cosume created for Emma Corrin who portrayed The Princess of Wales within the series and all the details surrounding (what appeared to be at the time) one of the most magical moments in history.
1| The original designers were involved in the making of the replica gown
Princess Diana’s replica dress was designed by Emmy award-winning designer, Amy Roberts, who confirmed to Netflix that she “…wanted to pull in many of the style choices and create the same spirit of David and Elizabeth Emmanuel’s original design, but make something new.”
During the entire process of designing and manufacturing the dress, Amy worked alongside David Emmanuel to recreate the legendary gown with every single detail seen on the one Princess Diana stunned the world in, back in 1981. Indeed, the team who made the lace on the original dress also made the lace for this replica.
2| Diana’s original dress’ patterns were used to re-create the wedding gown
Emma Corrin – who gives life to Princess Diana in The Crown’s new season – revealed in an interview: “…The Emmanuels, who designed the original, gave us the patterns, and then it was made for me…”
3| More than a 100 metres of fabrics for a striking replica of the dress…and its iconic train
“It’s made of 95 metres of fabric and 100 metres of lace, with a train that is approximately 30 metres long,” Netflix has stated.
The Emmanuels apparently intentionally designed the dress with a 25-foot train to break a record set by a previous royal bride?
4| It took a small team and hundreds of hours of work…
Four months, five fittings and a collective time of 600 hours were needed to bring this iconic replica gown to life. And if you wondered how many people had their hands on the making of the dress you might get shocked, as it was a team of only three people to identically recreate this iconic gown.
5| Which meant that if Princess Diana needed back in the day a huge team to get her into the striking wedding gown… so did Emma Corrin, who played the Princess of Wales in The Crown
A team of 10 people helped Emma Corrin get dressed in the massive dress for the filming of the iconic wedding scene.
6| All of Princess Diana’s costumes in the series are similarly re-created, but the wedding gown was intentionally replicated
You might see Diana reflected on each one the outfits re-created on the series, but that wedding dress makes her come back to life. “More than anything else I wear in the series, it’s so…It’s her,” states Emma.
7| Where’s Diana’s original wedding gown?
Although the dress had been previously been on display at Altorp House in Northamptonshire, England the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex — Prince William and Prince Harry — privately own their mother’s wedding gown and are working to keep it preserved. The dress is no longer on display.
You can watch now The Crown, Season Four on Netflix.
Images courtesy of Netflix