Fantasy vs. Reality: How The Crown Recreated Princess Diana’s Iconic Fashion

Any waltzing, fox-trotting or general boogying having been private up till then, news cameras first captured the Prince and Princess of Wales dancing together at a charity ball in Sydney in 1983, a trip virtually recreated for The Crown.

“I’d say actually the most challenging thing was sourcing the correct type of fabrics, specifically for Diana, on her and Charles’ Australian tour,” Sidonie Roberts said. “The reason being the dresses Diana wore here were so specific to the ’80s in terms of the particular weight of the fabrics, which were mainly silks [including this ice-blue Bruce Oldfield confection], and therefore how they drape on the body. As well as weight, they were very distinctively ’80s in color and shade also.”

She continued, “As with everything in fashion, fabric trends move on too, meaning the specificity of those particular fabrics was harder to source in contemporary fabric shops. However, through a combination of sourcing vintage fabric, dying existing ones and having it made, as well as continuing to hunt for it, we made a collection authentically fitting to the rest of Diana’s season four wardrobe.”

The show’s costume designer, Amy Robertstold The Guardian of the blue dress, “It was a deliberate choice to put her in this. There is a lot of irritation going on, on that tour, but this dress was the moment you felt maybe they did love each other. There’s sort of romance and youthfulness. The dress is kind of crazy, pure 80s, shimmery, slightly trashy, but it just moves so beautifully at the dance, when it’s all breathless and exciting.”

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