Set on mannequins ready for public display later this week, there is almost a ghostly quality to these outfits once worn by the late Princess Diana.
Devoid of her beauty, smile and charisma, they are a reminder not just of three pivotal moments her life, but also of the loss that many still feel at her tragic passing.
The three iconic outfits – featured here exclusively by MailOnline – have been personally loaned by her sons, William and Harry, for an exhibition at Kensington Palace on Diana’s legendary sense of style and her fashion legacy, which launched last year to mark the 20th anniversary of her death.
Diana visited war-torn Angola just weeks before her death in 1997 as a guest of the International Red Cross to see for herself the effects of landmines and meet some of their victims.
She famously walked through a minefield to highlight the work of the Halo Trust, a charity working to remove them – but also into a diplomatic storm after she was accused of wading into an issue that was ‘too political’. Her visit focused international attention onto a relatively unknown humanitarian crisis
Among them is the sleeveless blue shirt and Armani chinos that Diana wore to launch her global campaign against landmines on a visit to Angola shortly before she died in a Paris car crash in 1997.
It was an outfit, completed with a Halo branded flak vest, that she hoped would change public perception of her forever.
Gone was the designer clothes horse of old, replaced by a serious middle-aged woman renowned for her humanitarian efforts.
Surprisingly, not just because she sold many of her most famous outfits for charity at auction, but also because she frequently secretly off-loaded bin bag-loads of unwanted clothes to charity shops in the Kensington area, it is understood that William and Harry have several pieces of clothing belonging to their mother still in their possession.
This silk ‘going away’ dress with a fichu collar (similar to a very long scarf or neckerchief hung round the neck, crossed in front) and bolero jacket was memorably worn by Diana as she board the train at Waterloo for her honeymoon in July 1981. It was subsequently worn by the princess for an overseas tour of Australia in 1982 and a visit to Grimbsy in 1983. It was designed by David Sassoon, one of her favourite designers of the early 1980s, and epitomises the virginal ‘Shy Di’ look of the young Diana
Also among them is the pretty pink Bellville Sassoon suit she wore to board the train for her honeymoon in 1981, the other a stunning purple Versace evening dress worn to a Chicago fundraising gala in aid of cancer charities in 1996.
The outfits are an interesting contrast, one encapsulating the girlish ‘Shy Di’ of the early years of her marriage, the other a sexy, glamorous and confident post-divorce princess.
The three ensembles are among eight new outfits to go on show at Diana’s former home from April 26th in an exhibition organised by Historic Royal Palaces, the charity response for the upkeep of several royal residences.
The others are a sumptuous green silk Victor Edelstein evening gown worn for an official portrait by Terence Donovan – which goes on public display for the first time – and striking floor length gown by Yuki, designed for the Prince and Princess of Wales’s visit to Japan.
This stunning silk Atelier Versace silk evening dress is a perfect example of the strong, confident woman Diana became after her divorce from Prince Charles. Throughout the mid 1990s, she developed a friendship with Versace and inspired him to create a chic new look for her, which in turn influenced both the catwalk and High Street. This dress was worn to a fundraising dinner at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago in June 1996
There is also a tartan day dress by Caroline Charles, worn to the 1982 Braemar Games in the Scottish Highlands. This important example of Diana’s early wardrobe has recently been acquired by Historic Royal Palaces, and joins the charity’s Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, a treasure trove of over 10,000 items of royal and court dress.
There are also two outfits by her favourite couturier, Catherine Walker: a light blue silk day dress first worn on an official tour to New Zealand in 1983 with her husband and a baby Prince William, and a striking black and red evening gown worn to a Pavarotti charity concert in 1995.
Diana loved fashion and while she sometimes baulked at being seen as a clothes horse, she did frequently used her wardrobe to focus media attention on the causes she cared so passionately about or to send out a message about what was going on in her life.
It comes after the red outfit Kate wore she emerged with the royal baby yesterday was compared to the coat which Diana wore when she walked out with Prince Harry in 1984
Eleri Lynn, exhibition curator at Historic Royal Palaces, said: ‘Diana, Princess of Wales was one of the most photographed women in the world, and it’s no coincidence that so many of her outfits are now among the most easily recognisable in fashion history. Through Diana: Her Fashion Story we explore the evolution of a young woman who had to first learn the rules of royal and diplomatic dressing, then master the art of creating her own signature style.
‘Following the exhibition’s incredible success in 2017, we’re delighted that this year visitors to Kensington Palace will have the chance to see yet more of the Princess’s show-stopping wardrobe for themselves.’
The revamped display, featuring eight new outfits – including these three on loan from the Royal Household – reopens to the public this Thursday April 26.
For further details on Diana: Her Fashion Story and how to get tickets, click here.
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