Where to See Princess Diana's Dresses

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Nov 17th 2010 at 2:01AM

With a royal engagement announced and Princess Diana's ring on Kate Middleton's finger, many are feeling nostalgic about the time when young Diana first came into the public eye. There are several places where you can see Diana's dresses. A special exhibition of ten dresses that belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales is on display at the Fashion Museum in Bath, England from now until January 9, 2011. The dresses were lent to the museum by their owner, Mrs Suzanne King and span the 16 years that Diana was in the spotlight as a style icon. The exhibit includes dresses worn during the Royal tours of Canada and New Zealand in the early 1980s, evening dresses by couturier Catherine Walker from around 1990, and little black cocktail dresses by designers such as Versace from the mid-1990s.

Since her tragic early death, Princess Diana's dresses have been in exhibits around the world and some have sold for quite a bit of money. Earlier this year the black taffeta gown that she wore on her first official appearance after her engagement to Prince Charles sold for £192,000 at auction. That dress was bought by the Fundacion Museo De La Moda in Chile. Jorge Yarur, the founder of the museum, has said that when he dies he plans to have this dress and the other Diana dresses he owns donated to Kensington Palace, where she lived from the time of her wedding in 1981 until her death in 1997.

Princess Diana's wedding dress is currently in Michigan at the Grand Rapids Art Museum where it is the star of an exhibit titled "Diana -- A Celebration," which opened earlier this month and runs through February 16, 2011. The exhibit of more than 150 personal objects includes the ivory silk taffeta and lace wedding dress, with a fitted, boned bodice and curved neckline. Admission to the exhibit is $20.

Tags: Princess Diana, princess diana dresses, princess diana engagement ring, Princess Diana exhibits, royal engagement, royal wedding

Filed under: Apparel

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Loving Annie Nov 17th 2010 11:33AM

I saw the Princess Diana exhibit in Atlanta earlier this year, with her wedding dress and tiara and 20 of her designer dresses, plus some things from her childhood and the condolence books.

Without her in them , it was just sad.

She had a stunning, very slender figure which you could really see when you saw the dresses in person in their glass cases.

Hopefully at some point when Prince William has the authority/power to do so, he will have a wonderful permanent exhibit of her and lots of her things set up at Kensington Palace, much grander then anything that has been there before. It would be a very fitting tribute to her memory.

She was an 'inspiration' as Kate Middleton said yesterday at the engagement interview, for her charity work, and deserves to be recognized for the impact it made on Britain, and overseas, including AIDS, Bulima, Leprosy, and the Land Mines isues.

I can't wait to see Kate Middleton's wedding dress next year!
I wonder which 'Duchess' she will become.
I think she'll be an excellent representative of the Crown when she chooses which charities to work with.