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00:00:00ivory silk taffeta lace sequins pearls and diamonds we wanted people to go ah wow that's
00:00:11the most amazing dress we've ever seen people would almost gasp when they saw her i mean the
00:00:16fact that diana was wearing it obviously is 99.99 percent the reason thousands of people had crammed
00:00:25into london to see it but of course many many more were watching on television it was one of the
00:00:30biggest global audiences of all time i think 750 million the manuals rocketed to fame and fortune
00:00:37with that dress it's such a personal thing having something couture made you know you're seeing a
00:00:44woman raw she was just this very sweet lovely shy english woman and then it's like wow lurking
00:00:55under that is this hollywood superstar oh god the whole world is watching this dress and it's
00:01:02creased she went who panic set in we had journalists going through our bins somebody is going to get
00:01:10out and hold us at gunpoint and steal the dresses patrick and actually the queen wants to know
00:01:16how long are you going to be by the time the wedding came up and we cut into the fabric she
00:01:21was tiny absolutely tiny she decided to put some perfume on and she spilled a bit down the front of
00:01:27the dress so that was quite nerve-wracking first time for the princess of rose on this back and she
00:01:34was the most amazing person so beautiful i mean we couldn't have hoped for somebody more incredible
00:01:38to wear that creation and for the crowd a special moment
00:01:42i think she and the dress are just as one really in my mind now because it was perfect for her she
00:01:49looked so beautiful that day so beautiful she transformed into a style icon like all bryce do
00:01:57she wanted something unique she saw this as an opportunity to perhaps put someone on the map
00:02:02and she absolutely did of course david and elizabeth emmanuel will always be known for that one dress if
00:02:08they're not known for anything else it'll be that one thing the couple who kept a secret for three
00:02:21weeks prince charles and lady diana spencer talk about falling in love and the moment they decided
00:02:26to marry did you find it a very hard decision lady diana well it wasn't a difficult decision in the end
00:02:32that's what i wanted that's what i want it all happened too quickly too soon they didn't really
00:02:39have much in common the age gap was huge i mean she was 19 when they met he was 31 the royal family
00:02:46were really pretty stuffy but the arrival of diana had been you know not just a breath of fresh air
00:02:51had been a whole howling gale the whole diana and charles marriage story was global and everyone
00:02:58was speculating and guessing about what the dress may or may not look like it was something that all
00:03:05the designers were talking about at the time would they be the ones that were chosen all the press
00:03:09was saying oh it's going to be sondra rhodes it's going to be gina fatini everybody was mentioned we
00:03:14were rank outsiders you know we all had to submit sketches to vogue magazine about what we would do if
00:03:19we were given the commission and we never really thought we had a chance to be honest
00:03:23so this is my book of memories and i just uh did it a few years ago and i just thought i'll just put
00:03:32everything in here you know there are a lot of them just photocopies scans whatever but it's so
00:03:37strange to see my hand that's your everything yes i know that was the first one of the first pictures
00:03:41ever taken of us when we just got married really it's ovington street we were still going to college
00:03:46at that stage i started my career in cardiff college of art my eye was on the royal college of
00:03:55art we were the first married couple to ever be admitted to the royal college of art we wanted to
00:04:01be in fashion we wanted to start up our own label my father was a fantastic entrepreneur and he backed
00:04:08us basically if it hadn't been for my dad there wouldn't have been an emmanuel we wouldn't have been
00:04:13able to find this fantastic property in brook street this was a dream come true there were so
00:04:19many moments in time that were so special and fate was with us bianca jaga bought one of my dresses
00:04:27from the royal college of art show she was really the one who got the whole business going actually
00:04:32when she was in the studio 54 she decided to wear this one dress with great big full-blown silk roses on
00:04:40her shoulders and lace everywhere from that moment on everybody started piling into our studios
00:04:46the 80s were the 80s the big earrings the big shoulders
00:04:58if you think of the bands like duran duran you were able to be over the top
00:05:07the thing i remember about their dresses they're all so easy to photograph because they were so
00:05:15beautiful and romantic they were both just creative powerhouses right both of them david's was very
00:05:25elegant very beautiful very simple he used a lot of hurrell jersey my stuff on the other hand was lace
00:05:32taffeta chiffon everything you know piled it on at the end of the day it was my stuff that became the
00:05:41look of emmanuel felicity clark who's the beauty editor of vogue rang she said oh we're doing some
00:05:51pictures something special but they couldn't say who it was and did we have anything romantic with perhaps
00:05:57a high neckline it wouldn't say so well you've got to give us something is she auburn is she dark is
00:06:02she blonde oh it's definitely blonde okay as it happened there had been a client who had come in
00:06:08and ordered this beautiful dress with a taffeta skirt and she tried the dress on and got mascara all over
00:06:16it we cut the bit with the mascara off leaving like a three-quarter length skirt and i thought well i'll
00:06:22i'll make a top so we've got at least an outfit hanging there and we thought well maybe this will
00:06:27work so we sent that round to vogue so this is the blouse she gave nothing away who it was for the
00:06:34shoot no she wouldn't tell us anything which made us really curious obviously then we discovered who it
00:06:41was for lord snowden was doing the pictures and she said who's are they and it was the emmanuel's okay
00:06:50and then like any other client she rang up that's why she came in to see us afterwards yeah so it's
00:06:57all thanks to that lady who got mascara all over her skirt oh so it's funny how the events happen
00:07:03yeah but i mean that was perfect that was meant to be that one wasn't it
00:07:08i started with them january 1981 and that very first week of january was when diana called needing
00:07:16a dress and she'd never been in before so she came in for the first time that first week i was there
00:07:22she'd come in and she looked rather rubbish in beautiful skin tall as him a dream to dress
00:07:32when she first got engaged to the prince of wales she had relatively few clothes of her own she famously
00:07:39said uh that at the time of her engagement she had one long dress one silk skirt a few pairs of jeans
00:07:46and one decent pair of shoes i mean she had absolutely nothing
00:07:52she had what was called then the sloan ranger look you know it was like all the young girls that age
00:07:58from that kind of class would wear this kind of uniform almost and at the end of the day she was a
00:08:02nursery school teacher i don't think our big focus was on fashion
00:08:08it was i think a learning curve for her i'm so happy that we were there at the beginning when
00:08:13she knew nothing about fashion or even what suited her
00:08:18we got on really really well she was very sweet and uh loved the idea of trying everything on
00:08:24when we first met her diana was very shy you know when you hear about her looking out
00:08:30of people from under her fringe she was very much like that in fact i even got the habit after a
00:08:34while of looking at people like this there was something utterly unusual about her and yet
00:08:43underneath it all she was this really charming amusing girl who couldn't take herself terribly
00:08:49seriously she had a great sense of humor she'd sort of say my intended with a sort of little you know
00:08:55little chuckle she was quite funny that way she was a real ingenue but she also had a slightly more
00:09:01sophisticated side to her you could tell that she was someone who could be a bit mischievous and indeed
00:09:06all her friends say that's exactly what diana was she wasn't the shy die she was mischievous die
00:09:12i love her sense of humor i love her thoughtfulness and her kindness i feel he's very lucky to have her
00:09:20and and and and she thinks she's very lucky to have him so as long as they're happy that's amazing
00:09:37welcome to my studio a bit untidy but i like to call it creative mess
00:09:44elizabeth how wonderful to see you i'm so glad you could come far too many years let's not tell
00:09:51anybody how long so this is where it all happens now you were there the day when our lives changed
00:09:58forever and and you didn't even tell me you were so good about keeping that secret we were doing we're
00:10:04doing that wedding dress for you you were taking the dress off i think at that stage and that's when
00:10:10the call came and it was diana and she said would you do the honor of making my wedding dress but i
00:10:18yelled didn't i you did you screeched yeah and i i said oh my brother's had a baby or something i think
00:10:24that i didn't know how to keep it in really i heard from two floors up this sort of scream and then her
00:10:31feet pounding up the stairs at 100 miles an hour and then she came into the office and she said diana
00:10:36roaring and she wants us to do the dress would we do the honor of making her what and then i thought
00:10:41oh gosh poor margarita's still downstairs probably in a state of undress still i was in the state of
00:10:46undress but you were always so charming you made everybody feel so relaxed oh you kept it together
00:10:52and you never made me feel at all not important and i only realized so much later than what was
00:10:57happening yeah i think that must have been when we got the news that we were asked to design the dress
00:11:02probably and that was the office wasn't it yeah probably yes the moment we got the commission
00:11:08from diana we knew our lives would never be the same again and it was a sort of sense of shock and
00:11:13oh my god now what now what you know you've got to actually do this and deliver it we knew we had to
00:11:19be quiet we obviously didn't want to tell anybody she was so excited i said elizabeth keep still
00:11:24you don't breathe a word to anyone so diana came in one day and said she was going to this very
00:11:39big event at goldsmith's hall she came in that day you know when she needed it that evening we went
00:11:46through pretty much every dress we had and nothing quite worked and then we remembered literally tucked
00:11:53away in the back corner was this half made black tower for the dress with sweetheart neckline with
00:11:59the little frill put the black on and she loved it it wasn't complete we needed to finish it and
00:12:04also it was quite low on her and i said well you need a wrap so we rustled up a little wrap to go with
00:12:10it so it was totally last minute and she looked incredible the black dress this is the black dress
00:12:17this is the actual fabric from it she had cleavage she's got one she had wonderful shoulders
00:12:23and she looked so grown up so this was a big big change for her and she loved it you know there's
00:12:29this really lovely beautiful young woman who you're used to seeing a little bit more let's say in laura
00:12:35ashley mode that sort of thing and then it's like wow lurking under that is this hollywood superstar
00:12:41you know i think it was just a sign of that growing confidence yes i can carry this off you know i can do it
00:12:48yeah it was one of the rare big events that she and charles did before the marriage it was about
00:12:57a month after their engagement famously getting out of the royal limousine that night the picture
00:13:05the hit that they wanted which showed a bit of royal decolletage
00:13:09it was daringly low cut you could see cleavage right that's all you couldn't see anything more
00:13:20there was so much publicity well it was budget day but all the front pages yeah it was nothing
00:13:25the budget it was all the dress die the royal superstar the dress that stunned the world yes
00:13:30next morning well the phone call from the press mystery manual yes were you responsible for the
00:13:39lady down his black dress yes oh thank the lord so that was the start of it the hysteria was there
00:13:47it was a huge huge thing completely unexpected we we never thought that a dress could cause so much
00:13:53commotion diana herself later said it was you know her first one grown-up proper dress it didn't
00:13:59actually meet princely approval however with charles who he said black was for mourning and royals
00:14:06don't wear black i always remember what the princess later said about what princess grace had told her
00:14:12because she'd been rather blindsided by charles's comments about the dress and she'd gone to the powder
00:14:18room with grace who had tried to put her at her ease and said you know don't worry things are only going
00:14:23to get worse and it was a joke and i think she she appreciated the sentiment it was a statement
00:14:31evening for diana and the arc of the narrative was forming that this woman was going to make headlines
00:14:38at the end something else lady diana is going to have to get used to the fusillade of camera flash bulbs
00:14:44she looked so amazing and so like startlingly different bucking palace was forced to then
00:14:57release the news that diane had asked us to make her wedding dress
00:15:03as soon as it was announced suddenly we were world famous it was too much for us we we didn't know what
00:15:10was happening david and elizabeth emmanuel set up their fashion business in london's brook street
00:15:15in 1977. although the couple have made clothes for lady diana before they never really thought
00:15:21they'd get this job and tonight they said it was too early to say how it might look but how did they
00:15:26feel when they first heard very honored and very happy and delighted obviously with the news what about
00:15:32you elizabeth over the moon very thrilled our tiny little studio in brook street was surrounded
00:15:39every camera crew in the entire world was waiting to come in and because we had such a tiny space
00:15:45we had to get them in in shifts okay australia first in yeah but we're thrilled and delighted out
00:15:53german television in yeah we're thrilled with yeah it's exhausting the world went completely mad
00:16:00we had people outside the studio i do remember one day going down and opening the door and it was that
00:16:06classic scene you see in films of a sort of sea of photographers so i sort of opened it and went
00:16:13and closed it again oh my god and we were besieged by phone calls and it was just like you know
00:16:20insane just insane the eyes of the world on you suddenly and who are these people and you know
00:16:24let's find out about them it was very exciting and um you know a lot of column inches were devoted to
00:16:30speculating about what this wonderful young design team david and elizabeth were going to come up
00:16:36with yes it was a surprise only because they were so young and they were so new that's the only
00:16:42surprise not that they weren't good enough because they were i knew they were good enough okay all right
00:16:52i designed the dress i did the actual design and the research and everything i already had in my
00:16:57head what i wanted to do it had to be everything this dress it had to be everything to everybody
00:17:02it had to be young because she was young because you need to have a sense of occasion so it had to be
00:17:07royal really then all those months through to the wedding just lots of back and forth discussion about
00:17:13designs i produced loads and loads of sketches for her because i wanted to have to have a good choice
00:17:18it's a good choice diana loved it she said oh do you think my mother could come i said of course
00:17:25somebody showed her the sketch she said oh gosh i said it's going to be a work of art it's a lot of
00:17:30work in this gown what we had suggested was to try on all of our samples that we had so she tried on
00:17:37everything and there was one particular style that looked so good on her and it had already been
00:17:43photographed anyway for one of the magazines so it was already out there that was the extraordinary
00:17:48thing so that's that's the dress that diana tried on it was so ripe for her it looked gorgeous and we
00:17:54thought well that's the kind of silhouette and it really suits her liz when she looks back through the
00:18:01diary it's constantly diana coming in for discussions and funny things like calling saint paul's and saying
00:18:08can you tell us how why the aisle is you know funny questions like that because we wanted to do a huge
00:18:14train we knew that it's such a long aisle wouldn't it be fantastic and she loved that idea and so we
00:18:20looked it up and we found the longest one at that point was 23 feet so we thought right we'll make it 25
00:18:26feet just to make it the longest ever and diana just loved it the easiest person to please and to
00:18:33dress not only was she so kind and lovely and sweet and wanted to you know be involved in everything but
00:18:41all of our suggestions she she just loved symposium is vast so you couldn't do a little simple
00:18:47understated little dress you know it had to be something significant it has to be big it has to make a
00:18:54statement i went back through all the royal brides so there's queen victoria's dress so you don't see
00:19:02sometimes on exhibition all the detail that was in the dress all that lace but that's what made me
00:19:08think of doing ivory i know they wanted it ivory definitely not white because ivory is more flattering
00:19:16for a paler skin you know it's soft gentle and that's how it came about
00:19:21nina was this wonderful greek lady who'd been with us since we set up emmanuel so it was only natural
00:19:34that we wanted her to make the dress and she literally did it all on her own and we just let
00:19:39her get on with it because we knew whatever she produced was going to be perfect and beautiful how
00:19:45long did it take did it take many many hours yes it take and really i worry because take long time to
00:19:52do it when they never push me they never come to ask me where you want what you're doing and when and
00:20:00now they leave me free just to work and do the proper job do you mean she had those sort of gnarled
00:20:08hands and you wouldn't yeah she could do such exquisite work she was like real sort of old
00:20:14fashion she has no fashion you couldn't call her anything else but seamstress you know that's what
00:20:19she was yeah so i spent most of the time with nina up in the top attic studio but you know dave and
00:20:25i work very closely together david david the fabrics arrived and he's very organized much more than me
00:20:33david was in the work room below working with rose to create the bridesmaid dresses
00:20:43so that's how we pretty much divided our time when all the workers went home i and rose i used to cut
00:20:50patterns and cut the fabric and she had stitched them so we'd do another shift it was madness so
00:20:57we've got sarah jana i think she did the patterns for the bridesmaids barbara i think did she do hand
00:21:02finishing i think yes and ines and mildred our girls were so spectacular and loyal and wonderful and such
00:21:12supremely talented people and they were all part of this story
00:21:16when we started to see diana we were just very aware of security so we decided to call her deborah
00:21:25and we called her deborah cornwall isn't that strange that is very weird anyway but she was
00:21:30very curious because we we used to not let her upstairs we used to keep her in the showroom
00:21:36and then one day diana had persuaded me to let her go upstairs and meet all the seamstresses upstairs
00:21:42because she just was curious and wanted to see everybody and they were all almost crying you
00:21:47know she wanted to acknowledge them i'd been out came back went up to the first floor which was what
00:21:53we used to call the showroom there was petticoats everywhere and dresses i said what the heck i thought
00:21:59we'd been robbed and i could hear all this kerfuffle upstairs went upstairs where her wedding gown was
00:22:04made pulled down the sliding door and there's diana and i said i told you not to come up here
00:22:09because she always wanted she used to come what's upstairs so you don't need to see upstairs i said
00:22:14you shouldn't be up here you know you should not be here oh i'm terribly there and we had a giggle
00:22:21you know and and she was sweet and real
00:22:26diana and i had to go to buckingham palace quite a lot in fact diana used to drive us there
00:22:31which was very exciting when you'd stop at a traffic light and somebody would look across and
00:22:36they'd see diana behind the wheel and me and david and and rose or nina there that was funny dana
00:22:43would be making coffee for us she was it was surreal
00:22:53elizabeth and david emmanuel naturally they're keeping the designer secret but members of their
00:22:59staff have been offered staggering sums of money to reveal details of it and i was at one point
00:23:04offered quite a large sum of money by a newspaper to reveal details about the dress obviously i
00:23:11declined every time diana turned up for a fitting people would be queuing outside the studio we had
00:23:17journalists going through our bins so we were naughty to talk about a sense of humor deliberately
00:23:23drawn pale pink in there the next day the royal wedding dress is going to be pale pink oh you have
00:23:28to laugh we had to put blinds up as well because there were people with cameras trying to take
00:23:34pictures and it was quite stressful for us we wanted to be able to help but we couldn't give any details
00:23:40now look we're not going to rummage through your bins but what what can you tell us about the dress
00:23:44not not a lot nothing really i think we can say it's going to be dramatic
00:23:49and um and white really well you're saying so when we are making any kind of dress we do a 12
00:24:06first so a 12 is a mock-up where you test the pattern out and it's in calico you can then pin
00:24:11it on the client you can cut you know with scissors if you want to do that and redo things different
00:24:17sleeve sometimes we'd have two three 12 fittings to get it perfect before you cut into your cloth
00:24:23you have to do as many as it takes to get it accurate so you then can perfect the pattern
00:24:28and it's perfect so we started off nina created the pattern then we did the first while and then
00:24:35we tried it on diana what did um lady diana think of it when you first when she came for the first fitting
00:24:42she loved it very much and she would be very patient while she stood there whilst nina you know
00:24:48was pinning things and once i think even got her with a pin once but yeah that's lucky apparently i was
00:24:56told hampton court have been absolutely amazing how they've taken such good care of all of these
00:25:16things but um just for today they bought them out for me the fabric had to be a certain way to hold
00:25:23its shape because it was such a big skirt and the puff sleeves were big but also because it was quite
00:25:29thick as when diana got out of the coach and there were some creases but we knew that it would eventually
00:25:35pull out this is the fabric you can see the weight of this fabric and it holds its shape really well
00:25:44i mean this has been sitting in a box for nearly 45 years so you know we wanted english fabrics and we
00:25:51found stephen walters who were the fantastic weavers 40 meter c pearl that's the amount of fabric that we
00:25:58got in there were 40 meter pieces if she had to get a piece of material from somewhere that cost a
00:26:03fortune it didn't matter the dress mattered you know the end product was the most important thing we had
00:26:09to take all these different precautions like bringing security guards and things bert and jim
00:26:14bert did the day and jim did the night and then of course elizabeth panicked she said what if somebody
00:26:23breaks in oh crumpus okay and so we thought let's get a safe so we selected this big safe and when it
00:26:30arrived on the day it couldn't get through the front door this huge thing must have weighed a tonne
00:26:36meanwhile crowds are starting to appear it was supposed to be low-key and discreet in the end they had to
00:26:42haul it up through the window they'd hacked out this huge window there to swing the safe back in
00:26:53i don't even know how we got it through the window but we did we got it in there and thereafter the
00:26:58dress was kept in in the cupboard we called it
00:27:06in the whole process being paranoid about broken into and everything i thought
00:27:10we should make a spare dress you know you had to think this is too important what if something
00:27:15happens or you know gets lost or damaged we have to have backup we had this beautiful fabric from
00:27:21forster willie with you know beautiful embroidery design on very ornate and i thought we don't need
00:27:28to finish it off we'll just make it so it's ready to go if we have to elizabeth has done a lot of work on
00:27:34here isn't she it's lovely and so we created this dress with a full skirt but it had slim sleeves it
00:27:41had the v-neck but without all the other things on it then it never got used fortunately so then
00:27:48we put it on a sample rail i think somewhere and it disappeared we have given birth to yet another one
00:27:53we had this wonderful original antique lace
00:28:03provided by the royal school of needlework and it was a really spectacular piece i've never seen
00:28:09anything like it and i've been to loads of auctions at phillips looking for beautiful lace but this was
00:28:14just amazing so the lace around the neckline and in the sleeves belonged to queen mary and it was that
00:28:23lace that then inspired all the other detailing of the dress and so they had new lace woven for the
00:28:29for the train and for the detailing in the skirt and all of that is is lifted from that lace belonging
00:28:35to queen mary so this lace was made by roger watson and we gave them the original queen mary lace and
00:28:45they took the design and they they sort of created these that we could use on the bridesmaid dresses
00:28:49and also around the train and everything
00:28:58and then what liz hadn't found was the antique lace for the center panel of the dress and i was up
00:29:06staying at home with my parents in yorkshire and we heard that there was a lady in a village nearby
00:29:11who had some antique lace she was selling
00:29:16liz and david loved it and i said oh that's perfect that'll be perfect for that center panel yeah
00:29:27i went over to look at the antique lace and bought that bit and um what she had no idea that
00:29:33it would where it would end up i think i probably like tink with the trickiest part was laying the
00:29:41lace on top of the pattern and cutting it out was so nerve-wracking because there was only this one
00:29:47little piece of lace yeah to cut it out without making the wrong move i mean no pressure huh yeah
00:29:54i was doing a lot of the hand finishing sewing these tiny tiny little sequins and tiny pearls
00:30:11onto meters and meters and meters of lace so that was on the bodice and on the flounces of lace around
00:30:17the shoulders and also around the train that was 25 feet on each side and the bit at the end as well
00:30:26and every bit had to be covered with these tiniest little sequins and tiny pearls
00:30:31and they had to look like they were sprinkled i don't like things looking uniform you know
00:30:35they all had to look sort of sprinkled and a bit random i've tried to sew some on here you can see
00:30:43that on a bit of lace that that's kind of close to the lace that was used on diana's dress the pearls
00:30:51and the sequins i i don't even know the number we used thousands you're trying to get the needle and poke
00:30:58it through the little hole in the middle these were almost invisible they were so tiny and imagine
00:31:05doing that on meters and meters and meters of lace in those days i was quite fast at doing it and um
00:31:14now i think how could i have seen them they're so small but you know and you get into a routine and
00:31:19actually it's very relaxing um which was great because it was a very stressful time
00:31:29there was so much embroidery to do we couldn't bring in extra staff
00:31:33we just didn't want to risk it so mum was there and that was really nice for me my mum with her
00:31:38big white glasses on and she did the most amazing needlepoint the whole of their home was covered
00:31:44in her needlepoint so this was a breeze for her oh look look who's there oh there's my mum at the
00:31:50overlocker looks like yeah yeah at one point actually my mother came and joined the team because
00:31:56we needed more help and we were just worried about security i think my mum came down for what a month
00:32:01or so didn't she she was there for a while to help she was just brilliant because didn't you say
00:32:05she was a seamstress before oh she was in the fashion business yeah way back she got married yeah
00:32:09yeah that was lucky for us it was lucky
00:32:16well the veil was part of the whole ensemble really and was very important the dress was
00:32:22designed to be seen through the veil it created the magic this is the veiling so when we made the
00:32:29veil it was about 40 foot long and and it doubled over on the top and then there was a separate face
00:32:36veil because as she walked up the aisle we wanted to see the tiara and her face be covered as well
00:32:43because normally you would just go like that or it would just go over the tiara it's so fragile that
00:32:49veil it's a very certain type of veiling that we got was crunchy you know like tissue paper almost so
00:32:55it held its shape it stuck out which is what we wanted
00:32:58we wanted it to twinkle like a fairy tale so it was like a cloud around her of magic magicness
00:33:12and there were like thousands of these tiny tiny tiny little raindrop sequins on it
00:33:19each one hand sewn hand knotted by peggy from locks
00:33:24locks the famous embroiderer who had done the queen's coronation dress and regal bridal gowns
00:33:33going back for centuries really they did the work on that i worked at hardy amy's and i used to go
00:33:39back and forth to locks for for samples and got to know peggy terribly well i fell in love with her
00:33:45so we called her in i said under oath no work no no yeah oh no she understood completely i thought
00:33:51she was going to do it in her work group oh no no no no peggy wasn't that silly she went home
00:33:58she took a two-week leave and hand sewn each sequin to sprinkle over this huge veil
00:34:07i went back to work and they said you've just had two weeks holiday you look so pale
00:34:11what she hadn't been out she was locked in her house and sewing all these sequins
00:34:20it's my favorite pictures i love you remember when when the dress was like half made yeah yeah
00:34:25and we were just sort of stepping back just sort of taking a breath and it's coming along so
00:34:30beautifully it was like a quiet moment i just can't believe that we managed to create that dress
00:34:34in that attic space it was so small it was tiny it was an artist garrett up there it was wonderful
00:34:41when we made the bridesmaid dresses when we when i designed them i wanted to involve the mount baton
00:34:48rose color the gold because the florist was including the mount baton rose in the bouquet
00:34:58and that was this beautiful yellow and so we tried to replicate that with the fabric just
00:35:03in the sash for the bridesmaids
00:35:09the emmanuel's had quite quite good fun with the bows and i really was a tomboy and had not thought
00:35:15through that i was going to have to wear a pretty dress with bows hard to forgive uh but in in
00:35:21retrospect it it does look like it it's a royal bridesmaids dress anybody could run up a little
00:35:27bridesmaids dress no no no it had to be in the same fabric antique lace and so it gives a whole total
00:35:35picture and they ought to come in for fittings they were like a riot the fittings because they would
00:35:41come in with diana and there was a couple of times when they must have been doing roller skates in the
00:35:46park or something and they would come in with their roller skates on and we had to fit them with the
00:35:51twiles and stuff in their roller skates diana would be so good with them she was so sweet with them
00:35:57interestingly i do remember that their studio was very calm the studio was completely minimal with
00:36:04beautiful big bowls of orchids all around and there was mayhem going on around the creations but the
00:36:10actual overall interior of the studio was quite the reverse of the couple themselves and there was one
00:36:14occasion when princess margaret came in obviously to see her daughter lady sarah armstrong jones's dress
00:36:21so that was quite nerve-wracking because whereas diana was delightful and just easy-going and
00:36:26friendly i think we were all a bit terrified of prince princess margaret coming in but she's
00:36:31wonderful she came in she had a quick look she was very happy with everything and then she went again
00:36:36and we were all like phew there was so many fittings with the toile but there came a time when we had
00:36:46to say look we're gonna have to cut into the fabric now the real fabric so we don't want to make any
00:36:51mistakes the biggest alterations were because she was losing weight major amount of weight
00:37:00we tried to wait until the last moment before we cut into the fabric
00:37:05but even then after we cut into the fabric she kept losing weight so we did several bodices actually
00:37:12and then each one was too big and rather than take it in we started again but she was she went to a
00:37:18tiny 23 inch waist and she lost a lot of weight but she looked absolutely beautiful like a model
00:37:24most brides lose weight we didn't think anything of it really other than wow doesn't she look fantastic
00:37:34she'd seen herself in the dress as it was coming together lots of times but none of us had ever
00:37:49seen it with the train because we just simply didn't have the space and i think it was actually
00:37:55diana who suggested we use buckingham palace one of the corridors to try it out to make sure the shape
00:38:00was right and so again it was in cotton it was an etoile well all these flunkies were wandering
00:38:07around all these footmen i said well they've got to go david told them off and said they couldn't
00:38:11stand there they had to leave so we were responsible for blocking off an entire floor of buckingham palace
00:38:21anyway we laid it all out we could trim could get the shape fine but that was a very exciting time
00:38:28to see her in buckingham palace against the red carpet and and everything with the train
00:38:34all 25 feet of it we felt very relieved that she looked so beautiful in it
00:38:43i'd asked could we have a carriage rehearsal within the quadrangle of buckingham palace
00:38:49the carriage was was arrived with horses the blushing bride will travel to the cathedral
00:38:55in the 71 year old glass coach come rain or shine it's covered and has special interior lighting to
00:39:01give the crowds a better view we put a calico skirt on diana and the petticoat to give her at least the
00:39:09experience of getting into the coach with all of that stuff on practicing her getting in and out and
00:39:14you know those carriages are like that so she got in she got out 25 foot long train unheard of a
00:39:23precedent a bloody nightmare and we have been shown by the emmanuel's very carefully how to get this
00:39:30train in and out of the carriage that was really interesting and very useful doing that
00:39:41there was a dress rehearsal at st paul's
00:39:45we didn't give the dress to diana she was wearing
00:39:48a petticoat and she was wearing a calico skirt and the bridesmaids were there to practice
00:39:55on the calico train there was an order in which they had to go so all of that was really important
00:40:09a couple of days before the royal wedding there was a big party at buckingham palace and diana
00:40:15wanted something very glamorous and sexy and we did a pink dress this fuchsia pink which she loved
00:40:21she loved the idea of that i did it with a quite a low neck and it was slashed at one side fortunately
00:40:28we had photographs of it but i've never seen pictures of it really which is such a shame because she looked
00:40:33absolutely dazzling in it and we were at the party as well which was fantastic again it was like all the
00:40:39big dream we were living i remember seeing princess margaret sitting on the steps with the archbishop
00:40:45canterbury with a bottle of whiskey there there was that it was just surreal
00:40:56diana had many uh reservations that uh possibly that even the night before uh she was um having
00:41:03second thoughts famously her sisters who'd been with her said it's too late dutch dutch was her
00:41:11childhood nickname you know your face is on the tea towels you can't back out now she had reservations
00:41:16for one very simple reason she was convinced that her husband-to-be was still in love with another woman
00:41:22but i knew there was this other person in the background somewhere and i remember this before diana
00:41:28got married she was at this polo ground and she came off to the stand where she was sitting crying
00:41:33her eyes out that's because camilla was sitting in the row behind we also know that dana declared
00:41:40that she felt sort of triumphant she adored this man she was marrying and she thought that once they
00:41:46were man and wife everything would change to deal with what she was dealing with behind the scenes
00:41:54i never saw any shows of strain or unhappiness so she was remarkable we'd never took any photographs of
00:42:03her at fittings david and i wanted her to know she was safe in our studio she could come in and she
00:42:08wasn't going to be harassed she wasn't going to be asked about her personal life or anything
00:42:13she could just relax and chill so i love this picture as well because this is shows
00:42:18the wedding dress before it went out so stuff with tissue paper and things and i did a satin covered
00:42:23hanger with a little heart potpourri thing on it hanging up there oh good old nina she put such
00:42:31love and care into that dress in fact i remember trying to get the dress offer at the end which
00:42:37was like come on nina time time to let it go no no i couldn't yeah
00:42:42we had to get the wedding dress and we had to get the bridesmaid dresses to clarence house
00:42:53and i thought well i can hardly call u-haul so i thought i know i'll see if my brother could do it
00:43:04he backed the van into our little alleyway so nobody could get past anyway and then you know
00:43:08got in everything was covered the dresses and all the stuff loaded in the back of this van and rose
00:43:14and nina up into the back of the van and off they went and i think the responsibility for my poor
00:43:24brother gerald this precious cargo and you know gotta get this right
00:43:33and then as we drove up towards park lane and went down the back roads
00:43:39suddenly this huge rubbish cart pulled up in front of us and we thought that's it we're being hijacked
00:43:47and it looked like a scene from a movie all these cars stopped
00:43:50elizabeth was convinced we're going to get hijacked i said no
00:43:55somebody is going to get out and hold us at gunpoint and steal the dresses anyway we got through
00:44:01arrived at clown's house they're expecting us obviously you open the doors and there's a million corgis
00:44:06and all the all the football were saying they'll nip you you know no no no and they did we looked out
00:44:13the window and there were builders on the roof there all looking in to see what we were doing you know
00:44:18we've got this far it's all been secret and it's going to be the builders who give this dress away this
00:44:23would just be too awful fortunately we noticed them and we shut the curtains so they didn't see it
00:44:28that was like phase one we got them safely to clarence house now we just have to chill a bit
00:44:37and you know and wait for the following day
00:44:44wedding day in london fine weather ceremony and celebration
00:44:49in the early morning the route was already lined with thousands of people waiting especially to
00:44:53cheer at the first glimpse of the bride i think people were very excited because this was the
00:44:59queen's son the the future king presenting his his bride and the woman we hoped would be our queen
00:45:05one day to the world well it's the atmosphere it's a piece of history in the making really it's nice to
00:45:10be part of it sounds corny but you can tell your kids about it and this sort of thing the most
00:45:14interesting thing about that summer of 1981 was that it was terrible social unrest all over britain
00:45:21mrs thatcher was prime minister there was a recession and then of course you have this amazing wedding
00:45:28eight o'clock and the route is almost ready and this is a sort of suggestion of what prince charles
00:45:33and lady diana will see as they drive in their separate carriages to st paul's in two hours time
00:45:39it was possible that people came through brixton on their way to london to see the wedding would have
00:45:45gone past blackened and burnt out cars and suddenly were transformed into this almost fairy tale scene
00:45:53just a little while to go before this st paul's meets its first royal bride lady diana and i think
00:45:59that's one of the great things that royalty can do bring a country together and if you stay well
00:46:07okay good morning david and elizabeth you're on your way to claren's house now to assist lady diana
00:46:14to get asked how are you feeling very nervous and you know what was sweet about what diana did
00:46:19she made sure that nina mesetsis and rose hoeing and their husbands got an invite to the wedding
00:46:25and they were so excited that's the sort of touch diana did again
00:46:30let's turn to something a little sweeter smelling now because lady diana spencer's bouquet is on its
00:46:39way to claren's house sarah cullen is with the man who made it can you tell us what the bouquet looks
00:46:46like well not really not yet not we could take the the ribbons off but you can see it's a big one
00:46:52on the side of the box are you pleased with it i'm delighted with it absolutely delighted
00:47:03my father david longman he was asked by the westville company of gardeners to design and
00:47:08create a bouquet for lady diana i've always loved the big bouquets and we knew that with this dress
00:47:14that if we had a little regular wedding posy it would just get lost it would look silly really
00:47:19the length of the bouquet was 42 inches she was very tall so it was definitely in proportion but
00:47:25it just seems very large and then 15 inches wide a wonderful florist called doris wellham who was the
00:47:33head florist at the time and she had three or four girls to wire up every single flower individually
00:47:39into the bouquet they were chosen to create the bouquet because also they had access to the mount baton
00:47:45rose this beautiful yellow rose the mount baton roses which were the particular ones that the yellow
00:47:52with the significance with with prince charles
00:47:58yes my father actually made three bouquets for princess diana the first one
00:48:03for her to hold obviously the second he was allowed to place one in their shop window once the ceremony
00:48:08had started and then the third insisted by the queen so that um just in case there were any mishaps in
00:48:15case anything went wrong because on her wedding day her bouquet went missing between the cathedral
00:48:20and buckingham palace it's always good to have a spare one
00:48:29up here on the third floor of clarence house in the guest suite above there lady diana is getting ready
00:48:36we had our little room set by room on the top floor the bridesmaids were in another room down the
00:48:41corridor because i remember running backwards and forwards and then bumping into the queen mother
00:48:46who had a rather stern expression on her face i think i was making too much noise running down the
00:48:50corridor and then it was time to get diana into the dress we put the petticoat on first this huge petticoat
00:48:58hundreds of meters of tool in it the tower was on and they was on and i just said to diana i said did you
00:49:06check the the loop on the petticoat because i don't know we were sewing her into the dress really
00:49:13because i got panicking and so we're stitching it and putting safety pins in and things because
00:49:18i just had these nightmares of her dropping the train halfway down so i said oh lord so i said well
00:49:24there's only one way i said right down and up underneath i'm underneath the bride the brides
00:49:32where to dress the petticoat all you could see was david's legs sticking out under the dress and to
00:49:38check that we had done the hooks up properly luckily they were done as i'm resurfacing from under this
00:49:45cloud of of you know opulence i sensed down there it's sort of tense and she said david have you ever
00:49:51met the queen mother and as i came up there standing what's the queen i went a bit pink i think oh my god
00:50:00she did that wonderful sort of quizzical look as if to say what on earth was he doing after she'd been
00:50:05dressed and um she came back in to see me and she decided to put some perfume on and she spilled a bit
00:50:16down the front of the dress and there was just so much fabric there and she said oh listen david see
00:50:24this they won't just push around the front and in fact nobody ever saw it it's time finally to get
00:50:29into the carriage so i remember we all lined up on the steps and for a while we we all were silent
00:50:36standing on the steps it just dawned on everybody how big this day was going to be
00:50:45the carriage pulled up it was time to put diana into the coach her father was there the lord spencer
00:50:51was quite a large gentleman he got into the couch first and i thought oh lord there's not much room now
00:50:59for diana and so we got her in we had to roll up the train and stuffing it in the carriage and i'm
00:51:06going oh lord i don't wonder it's going to come up the other end she was really sweet she leaned forward
00:51:12and clutched my hand and i clutched hers and just go for a really big squeeze and she gave a big grin and
00:51:19they shut the door and she was off leaving clarence house in the glass coach her father beside her
00:51:26lady diana spencer
00:51:30they whisked off me and david in a car to st paul's with flashing blue lights and things
00:51:35what a fantastic experience driving through the crowds and it was empty road apart from us in the car
00:51:47so that was exciting
00:51:53prince charles moved slowly down the aisle as exactly on time his bride arrived ivory silk taffeta lace sequins
00:52:01pearls and diamonds as diana came out the coach and the train kept coming out of the coach so as she
00:52:09went up the steps the train got longer and longer and longer it's fairy tale stuff you know there's a
00:52:15princess in a carriage and i was part of that she was like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis
00:52:21that's what it felt like that is the image that's my favorite you know i just love that moment the veil
00:52:27was caught in the wind she's climbing up the steps and everybody gasped because no other princess has
00:52:32ever dared to wear a dress like that before and that's when to me it became real up into then it
00:52:39was the biggest closest secret that you've ever kept but suddenly go oh this is serious now diana
00:52:47was well versed enough in knowing that when she got to the top of the steps we had to have finished our
00:52:52job at the bottom of the steps and getting that and and looking back of course all of the photographs are of
00:52:57diana looking absolutely wonderful at the top of the steps and my bottom at the bottom of the steps
00:53:03because i was bent down very seriously doing my job we saw her as she was getting to the top
00:53:08of the steps and that's when i noticed that there were creases in the dress and my heart stopped
00:53:15it it felt like it had actually stopped because although we knew taffeta creased it was really creased
00:53:22because i think she must have been gripping onto it in the carriage she later said and i think she
00:53:27later told me that she was fussing about how creased it was getting and panic set in i mean
00:53:35if you can imagine we thought oh god the whole world is watching this dress and it's creased i think
00:53:41she was more shocked than i was she went who you know when you saw this rather distressed dress the
00:53:49bridesmaids were so good they knew exactly what to do pulling out the creases from the dress and
00:53:55because i'm taller i said i'll take the top you do the bottom i was concerned about the face veil
00:54:02doing the flounces on the bodies and i focused on the hem just for those few minutes it was the end of my
00:54:09world actually in my head one of the most magical things about that day was i realized that i was
00:54:22the last one to whisper to diana before she went and walked down i said a little something and off she
00:54:29went i'm not going to say what that is i'm not going to tell you no standing there she was she she
00:54:35seemed at one stage quite alone everyone was fussing around and you just get a glimpse of sort of
00:54:41uncertainty flashing across her face how did you feel when you saw your dress going down the aisle
00:54:50very very happy really very anyway i'm lucky was it was it perfect was it just as you wanted it to be
00:54:57diana of course had two things to get through that day one was become mrs wales as she did but also to
00:55:06propel her ailing father who was so proud to give her away earl spencer he'd had a stroke not long
00:55:13before and he was absolutely determined to be the father of the bride this dress it's been our lives
00:55:20for a few months now everything to do with it the creation of it and the protection of it and everything
00:55:25and then um here it is out in the world i diana francis hi diana francis take thee charles philip
00:55:36arthur george take the philip charles barter george to my wedded husband my wedded husband we had a
00:55:43separate face veil that we stitched on and barbara daly who was doing the makeup have this tiny pair of
00:55:48scissors so after the ceremony they went into a little room at the back and barbara daly snipped off the
00:55:54face veil she said to me i made a mistake of course when she she'd made that little fluff
00:56:05do you think anybody hurt diana came out you could see her beautiful face
00:56:11the crowd roared with approval as the prince and princess of wales appeared
00:56:23it was actually really romantic and and quite beautiful bridesmaids having a wonderful trying to
00:56:29cope with that train and of course actually manhandling that train and all of that fabric in
00:56:36and out of carriages was was virtually impossible we were whisked out into a car police escort through
00:56:45every red light in london back to buckland palace we had to prepare for the photographs by lord lichfield
00:56:52shown into the throne room we were waiting for down there to arrive
00:57:09and then it came time for when they did the wave from the balcony
00:57:13then all eyes were on the balcony at buckingham palace
00:57:15but we were behind there we were watching them go out on the balcony
00:57:25doing the kiss and everything and for the crowd a special moment
00:57:34that was amazing as well
00:57:35all the royal family were there and it was like a normal wedding except it was business margaret and
00:57:47there was gallows of champagne the entire royal family i mean talk about sort of a surreal moment
00:57:53you know i just sort of looked around and thought here we are and there's just everybody you've ever
00:57:57seen a photograph of all in the room together
00:58:00and your sort of gate crashing a royal wedding
00:58:08the queen was there prince philip and he would every so often try emmanuel's emmanuel's come do
00:58:13this come do that he took lots of pictures beautiful pictures low lichfield
00:58:20it was a tap on my shoulder turned around it's the majesty of the queen mr emmanuel how long are they
00:58:25going to be i said i i don't know what they're doing headshots you know i said you want me to find
00:58:30out yes i went over patrick and now she's the queen wants to know how long are you going to be
00:58:36oh 10 minutes and now i know photographer's 10 minutes is not 10 minutes right we're used to that
00:58:41so i went back i said well he said 10 minutes i think it's going to be longer because oh heaven
00:58:46she said i'm starving i went back to patrick i think you better step on it because certain people
00:58:52are waiting we all thought the photographs were finished and the princess and the prince of wales
00:58:59just sort of collapsed onto the floor well diana did it in this spectacular she went like uh and so
00:59:05did princess and then all of them they all collapsed i just saw them and i just said patrick and he
00:59:11was right off the mark he just grabbed the camera straight straight away you know got all these lovely
00:59:16pictures of her just sort of collapsed into the dress that's the picture he went clunk
00:59:21and it was the most wonderful shot with them all relaxed and chilling sitting on the floor
00:59:29and he said well you know they'll it'll never be used but they did they did release it it's a fun picture
00:59:34after the wedding breakfast rose petals showered the couple as they set off on honeymoon
00:59:45we headed back to brook street and all my ladies of course were entertained because we had champagne
00:59:52shifted in so we raised a glass of champagne david emmanuel was the first to arrive back and by the
00:59:58the time the champagne arrived his cheeks were almost bruised from the number of kisses behind him
01:00:03elizabeth emmanuel in the blue spotted dress for them the whole thing went without a hitch
01:00:09we even made a spare skirt just in case you know like um somebody's put coffee down it or something
01:00:14but we didn't need it thank goodness and then one most wonderful thing happened it was sort of getting
01:00:19towards the evening and we were going to go home and the phone went i know it's me what and it was diana
01:00:26and we thought she'd gone off on honeymoon somewhere and she was ringing to thank us
01:00:31you should be in your honeymoon no she said i just wanted to say thank you so much
01:00:35prince charles loved it and i loved it and all the family seemed to love it i said that's great
01:00:41and that really really made our day it made us complete if you see what i mean it was just fabulous
01:00:45after the wedding we went on to make many clothes for diana
01:00:58for her foreign tours this was the one-shouldered one in middle east
01:01:05that was the one-shouldered green the green
01:01:07she transformed into a style icon we could see as the years went by she developed her own style
01:01:18that was wonderful for us to see this transformation
01:01:23i think clothes for diana became a kind of language the language of fashion because clothes can express
01:01:29so much for example when she visited children's hospitals she would wear very bold bright colors
01:01:35she wouldn't wear a hat because she said you can't cuddle a child in a hat and she did so much for the
01:01:43british fashion industry anything that diana wore sort of flew off the shelves if people could get copies
01:01:50of it which really helped the industry and helped young designers like us there were a couple of young
01:01:57kids on the block and suddenly they were known all over the world actresses pop stars all sorts of people we
01:02:06were making dresses for then emmanuel became an adjective in the fashion world it's very emmanuel
01:02:19that's nice compliment
01:02:20david and i worked together until 1990 when the partnership was dissolved and we went our separate ways
01:02:31elizabeth and i we we split it both privately and professionally it was sad yeah yeah because
01:02:36they were such a good team they were almost like my brother and sister because we worked together in
01:02:40quite a tight way for a long time they're a good couple and that i carried on trading as david emmanuel and
01:02:46elizabeth carried on trading as elizabeth emmanuel so yeah i think she was aching to be a solo
01:02:53designer she didn't want to be a double act anymore
01:03:00so i've continued my design work up until well until now still doing it i love design i love i mean
01:03:06i did virgin airline i did all for rich branson i did all their uniforms
01:03:10when courtney love came to see us she loved this dress and we made a version for her in this
01:03:17beautiful silvery gray seeing them on the red carpet in one of my frocks is such an amazing feeling
01:03:25for me this one was worn by rita aura for strictly come dancing
01:03:33we were asked by madonna to create some of the costumes for
01:03:37her madam x tour i suppose rather like the royal wedding where i researched all the previous royal
01:03:43wedding dresses and looked for inspiration and went back into history it was the same thing with
01:03:48madonna's madam x tour diana's wedding dress was the biggest project i've ever had and i'm sure david's
01:03:55ever had how do you beat that really it's been hard diana's wedding dress was pivotal in influencing
01:04:07bridal fashions throughout the 80s and beyond
01:04:15it's the most important wedding dress in the world that's ever been i mean the fact that diana
01:04:20was wearing it obviously is 99.99 percent the reason i was told that both the princes now own the gown
01:04:30diana dazzled the world she dazzled great britain there was an aura about her it transcended anything
01:04:41that hollywood could offer she'd suddenly gone from being the girl next door to this sophisticated woman
01:04:47i feel just so um thrilled that i had a tiny tiny tiny little part of all of that because it is a
01:04:57a moment in history a moment in time obviously it's made even more i get a bit emotional now a bit more
01:05:03poignant since diana's no longer with us so now it's um it's this historical moment and all of us who are
01:05:12alive that day remember that it was an extraordinary dress at an extraordinary time in history
01:05:25i sometimes look back and think what would our lives be like
01:05:28now if we if we hadn't been asked to do diana's dress and i just can't imagine it's really dominated
01:05:35my life ever since
01:05:38with public trust wavering could brand megan be in trouble duchess for sale is brand new next sunday
01:05:48at 7 30 and revealing our future queen as never before get an insight into kate streaming now on five
01:05:57next 1976 those were the days
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