Princess Diana's wedding dress designer was 'horrified' when she saw gown on big day
Lady Diana Spencer 's wedding dress has gone down as one of the most famous fashion items in history - but not everyone was happy with how it looked on the day.
The 20-year-old stepped out of her carriage at St Paul's Cathedral on July 29 in 1981 wearing a stunning ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown designed by husband and wife Elizabeth and David Emanuel.
The couple spent months creating the royal wedding dress, going to extreme lengths to ensure the design remained secret.
When it was complete, it was reported to have cost close to £9,000 and featured more than 10,000 pearls and classic puffed up sleeves which was made up of six different fabrics.
The fabrics included 25 yards of silk taffeta, 100 yards of tulle crinoline and 150 yards of netting for the veil.
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It was then followed by a train made of 25 feet of hand-embroidered silk.
But when the designers saw Diana at the church, they were horrified by how creased the dress had become.
Elizabeth recalled the moment she saw Diana step out of her wedding carriage during an appearance on ITV's Invitation to the Royal Wedding in 2018.
She said: "We did know it would crease a bit but when I saw her arrive at St Paul's and we saw the creasing I actually felt faint.
"I was horrified, really, because it was quite a lot of creasing.
"It was a lot more than we thought."
They had done a dress rehearsal beforehand, but they'd used a different material, so it wasn't anywhere near as creased as how it was on the day.
As well as the famous dress, David and Elizabeth created a back up just in case it was needed in an emergency.
David told People : "At the time we wanted to make absolutely sure that the dress was a surprise.
"We didn’t try it on Diana. We never even discussed it. We wanted to make sure that we had something there; it was for our own peace of mind, really."
Diana called David after the ceremony to thank him for his work on the dress, according to HELLO!.
"After all the photographs, they went in to have the wedding breakfast and I went back to my studio in Mayfair. All of my workroom ladies were there so we had a glass of champagne," he said.
"We had a little party and just as I'm about to lock up, the phone rings ... I thought who's calling? It was Diana! She said 'I just wanted to say thank you so much for the gown. I loved it. Prince Charles loved it. All the family loved it.'"
He added: "It couldn't have been more special for me to hear from the client. When you design for a bride you want her to be happy. As long as the bride is happy that is all that matters. The fact she took the time before she went off on honeymoon ... that's genuine kindness."
However, this wasn't the only disaster on the day.
Diana's makeup artist claims that right before she walked down the aisle, she accidentally spilt Houbigant Paris Quelques Fleurs perfume on her dress, according to InStyle.
The makeup artist, Barbara Daly, said that she frantically tried to clean the dress but that the perfume still left a large stain.
So the only thing she could do was tell Diana to hold the dress up by the stained area so it would appear that she was just trying to avoid stepping on it.
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