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750 million people around the world watching "the marriage of the century", aged 20Lady Diana Spencer looked like she took out pages of a fairy tale when she marriedPrince Charles July 29, 1981. The former kindergarten teacher and part-time nanny had wanted himWedding dress to capture the romantic spirit of the day. Even more importantly, it was to be dramatic enough to fill the cavernous space of St. Paul's Cathedral. And while viewers would never have been able to say, the princess and the designers soon to beElizabeth and David Emmanuel were the only ones who knew the drama that came with the beautiful dress.

It all started the minute of Diana chose the little known designers for the coveted disposal of the creation of his wedding dress. It was the first thoughtBill Pashley (whoDesigned both his sisters' wedding dresses) would be tapped for work. But, despite mixed critics, Diana had received to weara revealing black taffeta evening dress By the emmemans for his first official evening commitment with Charles, she could not be persuaded to look elsewhere.

When I interviewed Elizabeth for my book,Diana: the secrets of his style, She revealed Diana who actually wanted to wear a dress that already existed that she had already seen on a model at London Designers studio. Further, she left Diana try the dress. "She said," I want this dress ", but I thought she needed something to create especially for her," said Emmanuel. "She tried on the dress to get an idea of ​​the how it would look like. He had the big frills and the small size she loved. We decided to model his dress on this dress. "

Elizabeth said Diana wanted something "extravagant" and together, they decided thedress would have a 25 feet train-The longer ever at the time worn by a royal bride. The design was shaped by 44 meters of ivory paper taffeta and 10,000 hand embroidered hand pearl beads by Elizabeth and his mother. TheUnbubbatic design adorned Was a sparkling meringue of bunches, flying and arcs.

But in addition to dealing with the anguish to create a dress that would be part of the royal history, the Emmanuses had to deal with a much more serious problem:Fast setting of Diana. Charles had made a comment offered to his fiancée on the day of theirThe commitment has been announced about his weight. When he put his arm around his waist for the official photographs, he said that his wife-to-being was "a little chubby", which triggeredThe extreme and chronic fights of the bulimia of Diana. As a result, she lost 20 pounds in the five months preceding marriage.

At the beginning of the wedding dress fittings, Diana had been a British size 14 (American size 10) with a 29-inch size; On the day of his wedding, she had a 23-inch size and had diminished up to a size 10 (size 6).

The emmanuals did not want to cut the meters of fabric for the dress before the weight of Diana had stabilized. Elizabeth told me that it was left to her and her husband to help the nervous bride cope with the mounting pressure because, with the exception of her very first fitting when Diana was accompanied by her mother,Frances Shand-KyddShe was still alone.

"She lost loads and weight charges and her body went through quite drastic changes," Emmanuel said. "It was a problem, but at the time, we thought she looked more and more beautiful."

When Diana descended Cinderella - like his car car at the St. Paul Marches on this fateful morning, she looked like "like a butterfly emerging from a chrysali," said Elizabeth. The dress filled Diana's dream to look like a princess, despite theMode critics leveled to her and designers at the time. (Diana loved the dress so much, she chose a picture of the wedding for her Christmas card that year.)

The 18th century coach who took him and his father,John, Earl Spencer, The church was too small for the collection of dress is pressed next to his great and sacred father. The dress was badly wrinkled during travel to Buckingham Palace to St Paul's. The Emmanuels, with the help of bridesmaids Diana, did their best to move the dress and train before Diana walk down the red carpet of 652 feet at the altar.

"When I review again that day, there were things that could have been different - his hair was not quite right and that the dress had pleats," said Elizabeth. "Whatever the critics were handed down. That day, she was beautiful."

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A year after his death in 1997, I visited theSpencer Family Estate, AlthorpWhere the brother of Diana,Charles Spencer, Had just opened an exhibition of her dresses to her late sister. (It ran from 1998 to 2014.) eager to see the iconic wedding dress of Diana, I quickly spotted a long glass case set itself. Equipped with a faceless mannequin with the veil of newly minted princess and tiara Spencer family, he seemed to glow in the dark room.

But after looking closer, I noticed the dress, with her voluminous skirt wrinkled, had slightly yellowed with age. In fact, without Diana, there was nothing magical or princess about it. Instead, it was simply a relic of a day long ago when a naive young woman thought she was marrying her prince charming. And for more information about the intimate details of the life of Diana, check23 Facts about Princess Diana Only his nearest friends knew.

Diane Clehane is a journalist and author of New YorkImagine Diana andDiana: the secrets of his style.