Princess Diana’s Anniversary Dress
THE British media may be up in arms that Italy’s Chi magazine published a picture of a dying Princess Diana’s last moments on this earth, but they’re not above giving the sainted one’s coffin a good rattle whenever it suits them.
And it suits them now because it is 25 tear-stained years since the world wept as one to see the Queen Of Hearts marry her King Of Hearts (and he happily carry on bonking his Mistress Of Hearts).
We were young then. Thin too. And wide-eyed with excitement. Bulimia was still just the name of a town on the Amalfi coast; James Hewitt was barely out of Sandhurst with one eye on conquests in battle and another eye on conquests in the bedroom; and Martin Bashir was stood in the corner of the playground hoping – in vain, as it turned out – that one day he wouldn’t be the last one picked for the football team.
Ah yes. The 29th day of July 1981. Who can forget a single moment of THAT day? THAT kiss? Or THAT dress?
Well, not fashion designers David and Elizabeth Emmanuel, who 25 years ago were hard at work in their studio in Brook Street when they received a call that would change their lives.
“Hi! It’s Ben Fogle here. I’m new in town. Know where I can score some Charlie and some hookers?”
No, not that call, but one from a young Lady Diana Spencer asking whether they would do her the honour of designing her wedding dress.
“It was like being launched by a rocket,” Elizabeth, a keen amateur astronaut and coin collector, tells Hello!
We who have no experience of outer space can only imagine the sensation, but we do know that it was not all good – nine years after THAT day the couple’s own marriage and working relationship went the way of the Waleses’.
But unlike the Waleses, the Emanuels are still on speaking terms and have collaborated one last time to mark the 25th anniversary of THAT wedding in words and pictures – A Dress For Diana, £25 from all good bookshops from July 24.
Not that they’re cashing in on THAT claim to fame.
“We felt enough time had passed,” explains David. “We didn’t want to do another ‘Diana book’, we wanted to produce an album that celebrated a moment in history.”
Nor do they have any need to cash in. For Elizabeth has been picked to design Big Brother winner Chantelle’s wedding dress when she gets hitched to her very own prince, Preston.
And in 2031 we confidently expect coffee tables around the country to be reinforced in readiness for the arrival of another album – A Dress For Chantelle: A Celebration Of A Moment In History.
Posted: 22nd, July 2006 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
