LONDON — It was black and strapless, with a sassy sequined flounce at the bodice and a gloriously full, swishy skirt.
The dress was, Lady Diana Spencer thought, just right for her first official engagement after the announcement she was to marry Prince Charles.
But when photographs emerged of the then-19-year-old Diana emerging from a limousine at a March 1981 charity event, there was a scandal over the revealing cut.
“She just looked fantastic,” said Elizabeth Emanuel, who designed the gown with her husband, David. “She was curvy. Not fat in any way, but she had cleavage — we love cleavage.”
The dress had been missing for years until David Emanuel recently discovered it in a plastic bag at his home. Along with other garments worn by Diana and designed by the Emanuels, it will be auctioned off June 8 in a sale that includes the silk chiffon blouse chosen for the Princess of Wales’ official engagement portrait by Lord Snowdon, and the calico prototype used to fit her famous ivory wedding gown.
