With a 25-foot train and a 153-yard tulle veil, it's pretty hard to forget that famous image of the late Princess Diana in her iconic wedding dress, which she wore to marry Prince Charles in 1981. Despite their marriage ending in 1996, Princess Diana's wedding dress still remains one of the most famous (if not the most famous) wedding dress in history and just as memorable as Diana's inspiring charity work.
Similar to the anticipation that came in the build up to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, there was a lot of speculation about what Diana's dress would be like and it remained one of fashion's best kept secrets of all time. Designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel for the royal wedding, the dress features a flattering and fitted bodice with panels of antique Carrickmacross lace which originally belonged to Queen Mary.
In typical 80s style, it was very much in keeping with the fashions of the time with its large puffed sleeves trimmed with bows and deep ruffles of ivory taffeta. It was embroidered with sequins and 10,000 pearls and many brides at the time tried to copy the design for their own wedding.
Princess Diana's wedding dress details
Diana lost a lot of weight in the lead-up to her big day which meant she had to have many last-minute alterations which meant she was even stitched into her dress on the day. Speaking about the alterations, Elizabeth Emanuel revealed “She ended up with a 23-inch waist from a 26 to 27-inch".
The Emanuel's decided to make a very subtle and thoughtful addition to the design to bring the Princess some luck on the day. They stitched a very small 18-carat gold horseshoe charm studded with white diamonds to the label of the dress. They also made an umbrella to match the dress in case of rain!
No bride can walk down the aisle without a special pair of shoes and Diana's silk shoes took a total of six months to make. They were covered in 542 sequins and 132 pearls and the arch of the shoes had a C and D printed on them for Charles and Diana.
How much did Diana's wedding dress cost?
At the time, the wedding dress cost an estimated £9000 which may not seem like a lot, but in today's money, that's a whopping £28,000. That's a lot when you consider the average wedding dress costs around £1,350.
Princess Diana's wedding dress on display at Kensington Palace
To coincide with what would have been Diana's 60th birthday in 2021, the famous wedding gown went on display for the public to see at Kensington Palace in an exhibition to remember the beloved royal.
The exhibition ran from June 3, 2021 until January 2022, and gave royal fans a rare in-person glimpse of the dress.
In addition to Diana's dress, the exhibition also shone a light on other great talents in British fashion design.
Although the dress is no longer on display, there are loads of statues and memorials dedicated to Diana dotted about the capital for you to pay your respects to the late Princess.
Lorna White is a Senior Digital Writer at Yours.co.uk. She was previously a writer at Yours Magazine writing features and news stories before joining the digital team. Lorna loves the great British countryside and likes to spend her spare time out and about in her home of Nottinghamshire walking her dog, Pippin.