Princess Diana’s style continues to serve as a masterclass in combining elegance with playful charm. From her daring ‘revenge dress’ and the cozy black sheep sweater to her unforgettable wedding gown and sparkling red-carpet appearances, she showed that a royal could also be a relatable style icon. Her engagement portrait blouse was no exception—a soft, blush-pink top perfectly suited for a bride-to-be.
The blouse gained fame when Diana wore it for her 1981 engagement portrait, captured by photographer Lord Snowdon, the former husband of Princess Margaret. According to the National Portrait Gallery, the shoot had originally been commissioned by Vogue as part of a feature celebrating aristocratic women. Once her engagement to Prince Charles was announced, the image quickly circulated in other publications, becoming the defining portrait that introduced the future princess to the world.
Diana’s choice of blouse would prove pivotal. After seeing the designers, David and Elizabeth Emanuel, she commissioned them to create her fairytale wedding gown. That iconic 1981 bridal dress would later be paired in the public imagination with her dramatic off-shoulder black Christina Stambolian ‘revenge dress,’ famously worn on June 29, 1994—the same day Charles admitted to infidelity on national television.
Interestingly, the blouse that brought Diana and the Emanuels together—and eventually sold for over $384,000—was born from a happy accident.
A mascara-stained dress sparks a fashion moment
In a 2018 interview with Historic Royal Palaces, Elizabeth Emanuel revealed the unconventional origin story. “A client had ordered a very pale pink dress, and as she took it off, she got mascara all over it,” she explained. To salvage the outfit, Elizabeth and David decided to replace the skirt, leaving the stained piece behind. “We cut off the part with the black mascara, but the skirt looked lonely on its own, so we thought, ‘We’d better make a blouse to go with it.’”
That spontaneous decision ultimately led to the designers meeting Diana. “If that client hadn’t smudged mascara all over the dress, we wouldn’t have made the blouse—and who knows? We might never have met the princess. It all came down to that little mishap,” Elizabeth reflected.
Diana picks her signature piece
At the time of her engagement in February 1981, Diana had yet to assemble a full wardrobe for life in the public eye. “On the day we got engaged, I literally had one long dress, one silk shirt, one smart pair of shoes, and that was it,” she told biographer Andrew Morton. With guidance from her mother and British Vogue editor Anna Harvey, Diana began selecting pieces that would define her emerging public style.
It was Harvey who introduced her to the Emanuels. In their 2006 book A Dress for Diana, Elizabeth Emanuel recounted that Harvey asked if they had any romantic, high-neck garments suitable for a photo shoot. The designers sent the blush-pink chiffon blouse originally paired with the mascara-stained skirt, unaware of who would wear it.
“When she saw our blouse on the rack, she fell in love with it, asked who had made it, and was directed to us. That was the beginning of our relationship with Diana,” Elizabeth wrote.
The blouse itself
The garment, sold at Julien’s Auctions in 2023, is a blush pink crepe silk chiffon blouse featuring a ruffled collar, soft pleats down the front, and billowy sleeves with flounced cuffs. A satin ribbon at the collar completes the romantic silhouette, which Diana wore tied in a bow.
Once the portrait was published widely following her engagement announcement, the blouse catapulted both Diana and the Emanuels into the fashion spotlight. “Thanks in part to that photograph, Emanuel became a byword in fashion—‘It’s very Emanuel,’ or ‘It has an Emanuel feel,’” the designers wrote. Their romantic aesthetic helped shape early-1980s fashion trends.
From archive to auction
The engagement portrait blouse remained in Elizabeth Emanuel’s collection until 2010, when it was sold. It was later displayed at Kensington Palace from 2017 to 2019 as part of the exhibition Diana: Her Fashion Story. Finally, in 2023, the blouse sold at auction for $384,000. In the same sale, another of Diana’s pieces—a ballerina-length Jacques Azagury gown—fetched over $1.1 million.
