The Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer: 29 July 1981

[royal rob]

Every wedding dress was and is a product of its time. Some decades produce quite timeless gowns. I've seen for instance a wedding dress of the later 1920's in a museum that the Gen Y's with me absolutely loved. The 1980's wasn't one of those decades. Some things in it were reasonably pretty, pie crust collar blouses for example, but not many.

Perhaps quite a few brides would want to change their looks as the years go on. I know a couple of them, married in the 1990s, in the Dynasty era, that would want to for sure. Perhaps Kate will look back years into the future and say 'Why oh why did I go for cone boobs on my gown?' Who knows.

However, Diana's dress wasn't as crinkled and creased as Rudolph says. The Emmanuels managed to smooth out much of it. Her radiance, her youthful beauty, outshone everything on that day, including what she wore. And the width of the skirt of the dress, the lovely bouquet, and the long long veil were perfect in my view for the huge spaces of the interior of St Pauls.

Your so right she looked amazing. It the dress prefect for the time and our beautiful princess


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[Denville]

Dittand dressed like Diana. In this respect, Diana's wedding dress was iconic as it defined what a royal bride and princess to be should look like. I, personally, wouldn't be caught dead in it but that's just my taste.

But if you were getting married in a big televised ceremony in a huge cathedral, it would be more suitable than a dress with a modest skirt. Di's dress had to be picked up on camera, form a distance and from close up. I think it was perfect, well maybe a bit OTT but she was so lovely that she coudl pull it off. Anne, the only thing I've ever seen her wearing that looked nice was her yellow outfit for Di's wedding. I also wish she had had the QUeen Mary Tiara, but It mgiht have been rather heavy.. and I also wish that she had had a neck ornament, a simple necklace or chain. I thogth her neck looked bit bare. (but I love jewellery).

 

[TLLK]

I have to admit that at the time I loved Diana's dress, but so many years later, I'm not fond of it. I know what it is, the 80's big puffed balloon sleeves. Princess Astrid of Belgium's wedding dress had the same thing and now it looks terrible to me. I felt rather disloyal to Diana when Fergie married as I actually preferred her dress to Diana's although the huge A and S initials on her train was too much for me and rather tacky to my taste.
I read about an interview Diana gave in the 90's and supposedly she stated if she had to choose her wedding dress again, it wouldn't have been that dress. Before anyone jumps on me, I state again the "supposedly" and no, I didn't read the actual "interview".

I too preferred Sarah's dress to Diana's as I thought it was more flattering to her shape. Diana's looked too large for her frame by the time of the wedding. However I did love the ivory color that warmed Diana's skin tone.

 

[Denville]

I think that was partly due to Diana's weight loss. But Sarah's dress was amazingly pretty and jsut right. I maintain she learned by Di's mistakes...

 

[Pranter]

Sarah's dress was fabulous. One of my all time favorites.


LaRae

 

[Denville]

Did any royal lady wear a "Regency style" dress, wth the high bodice, puffed sleeves? Anne's was long and tubular with big long sleeves..

 

[Skippy]

I'm glad that there are more people out there who appreciate Lady Diana's wedding gown. It is refreshing after all the negativity the gown has received over the years. I have never understood that, the gown was breathtakingly romantic, suitable for the occasion and the venue and it fitted the bride's character/feeling at the time.
Lady Diana remains my #1 bride and I only have a Top 2. I don't even have a #3

 

[Denville]

. I have never understood that, the gown was breathtakingly romantic, suitable for the occasion and the venue and it fitted the bride's character/feeling at the time.
Lady Diana remains my #1 bride and I only have a Top 2. I don't even have a #3

Agree SKippy, I never understood it either. It was a bit OTT, but that was the point. She wasn't marrying in a small church, she had to fill up a huge space, and to look romantic and to "back Britain" with the look and materials. She was lovely enough to carry off a somewhat "big" look...

 

[Dman]

The day the Queen gave consent for Charles to marry Diana | Daily Mail Online

 

[Curryong]

An historic moment indeed and one in which everyone concerned was highly delighted and looking forward with such hope for the future, I'm sure. A full meeting of the Privy Council by the look of it. Thanks for posting this, Dman.

 

[Dman]

An historic moment indeed and one in which everyone concerned was highly delighted and looking forward with such hope for the future, I'm sure. A full meeting of the Privy Council by the look of it. Thanks for posting this, Dman.

You're welcome. It's my first time seeing this picture. The Wales wedding was very historic indeed. I can only imagine how big Prince George's future wedding will be like. A King's first born getting married isn't something to miss.

 

[Denville]

George's weding might not be that "big" at all, in 20 odd years the RF may opt for simpler weddings..

 

[Honeybees]

Personally I love Princess Anne's wedding dress and whilst some of Sarah Ferguson's gown wasn't my taste, did she ever look better. Lady Diana Spencer's dress was made for the occasion and location. How long had it been since a Prince of Wales married? The sheer size of the location, the aisle of St Paul's is much broader than Westminster Abbey. It was a princess dress for a fairytale princess? Not my favourite dress then or now but my, was it a memorable day.

 

[Countessmeout]

Personally I love Princess Anne's wedding dress and whilst some of Sarah Ferguson's gown wasn't my taste, did she ever look better. Lady Diana Spencer's dress was made for the occasion and location. How long had it been since a Prince of Wales married? The sheer size of the location, the aisle of St Paul's is much broader than Westminster Abbey. It was a princess dress for a fairytale princess? Not my favourite dress then or now but my, was it a memorable day.

Been 118 years. Edward vii was the last to marry as Prince if Wales, in 1863. George v married when Victoria was alive. George vi was Duke of York. Elizabeth was heir when she wed so close.

 

[Missjersey]

Watching with anticipation as Diana got out I remember wondering if anyone else thought she was a wrinkled mess. I felt sorry for her. It was too much. Sarah never looked better than her wedding. I loved the initials. I also thought Camilla looked lovely marrying her prince

 

[Curryong]

It was wrinkled because the dress was pure silk which easily creases, especially in the confines of a very small carriage. The Emmanuels soon smoothed it out. Diana's dress was very much of its time, the very early 1980s. However the wide skirts and Diana's long veil somehow were right for the vast expanses of St Pauls IMO.

 

[Pranter]

Plus Diana had the stature to carry off that type of dress.


LaRae

 

[MARG]

Watching with anticipation as Diana got out I remember wondering if anyone else thought she was a wrinkled mess. I felt sorry for her. It was too much. Sarah never looked better than her wedding. I loved the initials. I also thought Camilla looked lovely marrying her prince

I was horror-struck when this unbelievably enormous crumpled poof of dress and veil exploded out of the carriage like an oversized meringue! I thought it looked ghastly and her train was just too big and too heavy, her veil swamped her face and the bouquet was huge!

It was amazing that the Emanuels's were able to pull and yank the dress into some semblance of order for the entrance but even that didn't help with her hauling that incredible volume of heavy silk, satin and lace up those very big steps and really long aisle.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...RrwxsxPM-gUWC_Q-I3btOzquada823fmfQXNeVHyFiR-A

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/df/Princess_Diana_wedding_dress.png

 

[Missjersey]

I agree MARG, though lots of folks love it. I sometimes think she tried to tweak Queen Victoria’s dress but it just didn’t work for me.

 

[Pranter]

Honestly not a huge fan of Diana's dress. I love the idea of it...I love the bottom part of it...but the top part didn't care for. Liked the color though.


LaRae

 

[Curryong]

I have read that it was a copy of a dress worn by an ancestor in the late 18th century in a portrait that hung at Althorp. It was a gown that a young girl of just 20 would think was wonderful in the very early 1980s, though.

It's not a design I would have chosen even then, but I did like it. The width of it, the OTT length of the veil just worked in the vastness of St Paul's in the way that a more restrained slimline dress and shorter veil wouldn't have. It added to the drama, the theatricality of that day, IMO.

The Emmanuels were very inexperienced and I don't think they counted in the fact that Diana would be travelling to St Paul's in a relatively small coach with her father who, in spite of his illness, was a large man.

I think that's where the crumpling of the pure silk happened. We're so used today to seeing synthetic materials too, that hang just so, that we are quite unforgiving of natural materials that do crumple and wrinkle. Anyway, I liked the gown, with the caveat that it was very much of its time and place.

 

[Pranter]

I hadn't heard that about the dress in the picture. Interesting.



LaRae

 

[Missjersey]

Nor I Pranter.

 

[O-H Anglophile]

I don't think Diana's dress was what I expected, (although I can't tell you what I expected) and at the time I was disappointed. But I did get to see it in person twice during the traveling exhibition and it was glorious and dramatic.

 

[Countessmeout]

Glad to know I am not alone. Everyone I know seems to have loved it. I found it a giant cupcake on top, and a wrinkled mess on the bottom. The train always seemed ridiculous to me. Having a long veil for drama in a cathedral makes sense, the train just seemed overload.

 

[Missjersey]

Countessmemout, I’m on the entire overload train! For me, less is more on this one. Unfortunately I didn’t like it at all.

 

[Osipi]

One thing thought that hit me about Diana and her wedding dress was that with the dress being so cupcake like and with the extraordinarily long train, it kind of diminished Diana. She looked a lot smaller and shorter than she really was to me.

I never liked the dress, the veil or the huge bouquet but hey... it was the 80s.

 

[Tsaritsa]

It didn't help that she'd lost a dramatic amount of weight prior to the wedding. The voluminous dress seemed to swallow her -noticeably so from the waist up to the shoulders- however, it was a magnificent creation -I still recall gasping when I saw it at the Althorp exhibition- and a perfect balance for the width and opulence of St Paul's, compared with the elegance of Westminster Abbey, which appears to lend itself towards a more stream-lined style of dress, Princess Margaret's being an exception.

 

[Skippy]

I can't believe people would want to go for "less is more" with this wedding.

Really?? Lady Diana Spencer, to marry the Prince of Wales, heir to the throne of England, in the great wide St. Paul's Cathedral? A 19 year old girl, the embodiment of the fairytale come true (at the time) and one would expect her to wear a "modest dress"?
It was both the expectation of the times and of the position and institution she was set to enter.

A "less" dress would not have given off the impact that this wedding had and was supposed to have at the time.

 

[loonytick]

Not less, but a designer more experienced with getting high profile to major events unwrinkled may have insisted on some changes. A more fitted bodice could have made it through the carriage ride in better shape. Embellishment with some weight to it on the skirt, like embroidery, helps pull out the wrinkles a bit when you stand up. And honestly, just thinking more strategically about how to arrange the dress for the carriage ride (it looked like they just shoved it all in there willy-nilly) could have helped a little.

That said, for a long time I thought the wrinkles were on purpose. As a girl, I thought Diana's gown looked soft and fluffy and lovely.