Princess Diana’s Wedding Dress Designer Knew the Moment Diana Asked Her to Design Her Gown That Her Life Was “Never Going to Be the Same Again”
Elizabeth Emanuel detailed the design process, noting that Diana didn’t “have any idea” about what she wanted her now-iconic dress to look like.
![Princess Diana wedding dress](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uxTMYa82fMXJqKPL3BQjE5-415-80.jpg)
When Princess Diana—then Lady Diana Spencer—called the woman who would become her wedding dress designer, Elizabeth Emanuel, to ask her to do the honors for her July 29, 1981 wedding day to Prince Charles, the call came at an inconvenient time, Emanuel said.
Emanuel opened up to People about the fib she had to tell another client when Diana rang, asking if Emanuel and her then-husband, David, would design her now-iconic wedding gown. Speaking at People’s Styling Princess Diana panel, Emanuel said that she knew in that moment that her “life was going to change”—but first, she had to find an excuse to leave her client, who she was doing a fitting with when the call from Diana came.
Diana's wedding dress remains one of the most iconic gowns of all time.
“The phone started to ring, and it rang and rang, and nobody was picking it up,” Emanuel said. “I said, ‘I’m so sorry, I’m just going to have to take this call.’ And it was Diana. And she said, ‘It’s me,’ you know? ‘Would you do me the honor of making my wedding dress? You can’t tell anybody about this, there’s not going to be an announcement, so you’ve got to keep it very secret.’”
Of that moment, Emanuel recalled “It was such a special moment because I thought, ‘My life was going to change, David’s life—it’s never going to be the same again.’”
Charles and Diana married on July 29, 1981 at St. Paul's Cathedral in London; Charles was 32, and Diana had just turned 20 earlier that month.
Naturally, Emanuel wanted to tell her team immediately, but she still had that other client there, waiting on her. She fumbled for the perfect excuse and finally came up with one: “My brother had a baby,” she fibbed.
Emanuel added during the panel that Diana didn’t “have any idea” about what she wanted when it came to a wedding dress. Emanuel said she did “lots and lots of sketches” and had Diana try on some ready-to-wear dresses, including one that became the template for the final product.
“A lot of it was trust, and she liked our style,” Emanuel said.
Stay In The Know
Marie Claire email subscribers get intel on fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more. Sign up here.
Diana's gown was designed by the then-husband and wife team of Elizabeth and David Emanuel.
The Emanuels were personally selected by Lady Diana Spencer to design one of the most important dresses of her life.
Bringing the dress from 1981 to 2024, Emanuel revealed that she has plans to make a modern version of the iconic gown from 43 years ago. “I’m going to try and capture the spirit of the original but through my eyes now,” she told People. “I want to preserve all the sparkles and pearls, but with a completely different vision.”
Emanuel is designing a "sequel" to Diana's dress, 43 years after her wedding.
Emanuel said that when it came to the design of her gown, Diana had no idea what direction she wanted to go.
Emanuel added of the sequel to the original gown that “It’s a really exciting thing because I often get asked, ‘Would you do the same dress again?’ 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.”
Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.
-
Everyone Is Wearing Old Hollywood Hair Scarves This Summer
You don't need to be a celebrity to try the trend.
By Halie LeSavage Last updated
-
Jennifer Lopez Is Unbothered in Three Nearly-Naked Looks
The multi-hyphenate is celebrating a 10-year album anniversary.
By India Roby Published
-
32 Actors With an Unexpected Hidden Talent
Unicycling! Juggling! Fire-breathing...! Lion-taming...!?
By Katherine J. Igoe Published
-
Princess Diana Wrote That Her Honeymoon Was a “Tremendous Success” In a Letter to Her Family’s Former Housekeeper—Despite Finding Cufflinks Given to Prince Charles by Camilla Parker-Bowles
Nine letters written by the former Princess of Wales are predicted to net upwards of $25,000 at auction today.
By Rachel Burchfield Published
-
Kevin Costner Confirms That a Sequel to ‘The Bodyguard’ Was Happening with Princess Diana Starring Opposite Him—and That, After Her Death, “It Got Kind of Ugly” Between Him and the Royal Family
“The royal family kind of turned on me a little bit.”
By Rachel Burchfield Published
-
Princess Diana "Kind of Fancied" Kevin Costner, Per Prince William
This is in the running for fun fact of the century.
By Iris Goldsztajn Published
-
Princess Diana’s Brother Charles Spencer Hires the Same Divorce Lawyer That Prince Charles Used In His 1996 Divorce from Diana
Fiona Shackleton, known as the “steel magnolia” of lawyers, also represented Prince Andrew in his divorce from Sarah Ferguson the same year.
By Rachel Burchfield Published
-
Lip Readers Decode the Advice Queen Elizabeth Gave Princess Diana on the Buckingham Palace Balcony the Day Diana Married Prince Charles
Lip readers have also deduced what Charles said to his bride while at the altar at St. Paul’s Cathedral 43 years ago this summer.
By Rachel Burchfield Published
-
There’s A Perfectly Good Reason Why Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle Didn’t Wear the Spencer Tiara on Their Respective Wedding Days
Their late mother-in-law, Lady Diana Spencer, famously—and beautifully—wore her family heirloom tiara when she married Prince Charles in 1981, and wore it again multiple times throughout her royal life.
By Rachel Burchfield Published
-
Princess Diana Was Underprepared and Had No Idea What She Was Getting Into When She Married Prince Charles, Friend Says: “She Was Just Trying To Do Her Best”
At the same time, neither the Firm nor Charles knew what on earth to do with Diana’s immense star quality, either.
By Rachel Burchfield Published
-
Princess Diana Would Have Been a “Peacemaker” and Would Have Made Prince Harry Apologize to King Charles If She Were Alive, Former Royal Butler Says
“Her word would have been final.”
By Rachel Burchfield Published