'Diana was a joy to dress': Designer David Sassoon reveals how he helped the princess become a fashion icon

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One of Princess Diana’s favourite designers, as well as a trusted confidant, DAVID SASSOON enjoyed extraordinary access to the royal inner circle. Twenty years after her death – as a new exhibition celebrates her rise to global fashion icon – he talks to Margarette Driscoll about the woman behind the wardrobe

Princess Diana in a red chiffon Bellville Sassoon dress at the premiere of For Your Eyes Only, 1981, which she later also wore to meet the dancer Rudolf Nureyev

Who can forget Princess Diana’s dramatic arrival at the Serpentine Gallery on the night in 1994 when Prince Charles confessed his infidelity to Jonathan Dimbleby on TV? The princess’s last-minute outfit choice – a daring, off-the-shoulder black dress by Christina Stambolian, with a trailing chiffon tail, which later became known as ‘the revenge dress’ – was proof (yet again) that this was a woman who understood the potent power of clothes. It was her zenith as a style queen, the most photographed woman in the world.

Our Queen of Hearts had a soft spot for many British designers, including David and Elizabeth Emanuel (who designed her wedding dress), Catherine Walker (Diana was buried in a black dress by her), Bruce Oldfield and Jenny Packham, but her fashion journey began with a name that may be less familiar. 

David Sassoon is the designer who, as one half of Bellville Sassoon, the label of choice among privileged young ladies in the late 1970s, took Lady Di from junior Sloane ranger – all floaty skirts, cashmere cardigans and pie-crust collars – and discreetly steered her in the direction of fully fledged fashion icon. Diana’s loyalty to him was absolute: he designed more than 70 gowns for her over nearly two decades.

The original design sketch, which features in the new Diana: Her Fashion Story exhibition

David is 84 but, in jeans and trainers, looks much younger. His mischievous smile and gentle manner make it easy to understand how he won the trust of a nervous 19-year-old, already under siege by the paparazzi and awestruck at the responsibility she was taking on. His affectionate recollections give an intriguing insight into Diana’s world and the eccentricities of royal life, hidden behind the scenes.

On the face of it, theirs was a most unlikely alliance. He was the son of Iraqi immigrants, she the daughter of an earl. He was nearly 30 years older and several inches shorter than the fledgling princess, but David had an eye for elegance (honed as a child in Highbury, North London, where he would dress his sister in glamorous items that had made their way from his mother’s trousseau to the dressing-up box) and a track record of dressing both royal ladies and Hollywood stars. He was the first person Diana came to rely on as she found her style footing and he became a trusted, lifelong friend; a source of gossip and fun amid the stuffiness of royal life.

He was a guest at her wedding and later at her funeral. Time seemed to stand still for a moment when he heard that she had died: ‘It was Sunday morning and I was here,’ he says, gesturing around his beautiful, high-ceilinged apartment in South Kensington, a stone’s throw from Diana’s former home at Kensington Palace. ‘I put the radio on for the 7am news. I thought, “I’m not hearing this.” I was absolutely stunned.’

He had seen Diana just a few weeks earlier at the preview of a charity auction of her clothes at Christie’s. The princess was at her sleek, stunning peak, in a figure-hugging, pale blue dress by Catherine Walker, heavily embroidered with sparkles and pearls. They chatted about some of the outfits David had made for her over the years, including the going-away outfit she wore on her wedding day. He asked if it was in the auction. ‘Oh no!’ said Diana. ‘I’m not losing that.’

David Sassoon was the first person Diana came to rely on as she found her style footing

Diana: Her Fashion Story, opening shortly at Kensington Palace, is an exhibition tracing the princess’s evolving style. It will feature sketches from David’s archive bearing Diana’s handwritten notes – ‘Yes, please!’ or, ‘Please could I have this one without the high collar and bow?’ – and the man himself is to appear in conversation with Eleri Lynn, collections curator at Historic Royal Palaces, on Saturday 4 March.

His friendship with the princess had a bumpy start: Diana walked into the Bellville Sassoon studio (which David ran with Belinda Bellville) a few days before her engagement to Prince Charles was announced in February 1981 and quickly walked out again. The studio’s imperious French vendeuse was less than impressed by a teenage girl turning up late on Friday afternoon, nervously fingering clothes that were too sophisticated and probably far outside her budget. She suggested ‘madam’ might find something more suitable around the corner at Harrods. So Diana fled.

Diana in that ‘revenge dress’ by Christina Stambolian, 1994

When David and Belinda heard from another assistant that the girl had looked a bit like Lady Diana Spencer – the one who was in all the papers – ‘we nearly had a fit’. Luckily for them, Diana might have been scared off but her mother Frances Shand Kydd was made of sterner stuff. For the announcement of her engagement Diana wore a blue Cojana suit she’d hurriedly picked up at Harrods that Friday afternoon, but to order her trousseau her mother took her back to Bellville Sassoon. ‘From then on, whenever Diana appeared, we kept the vendeuse out of the way,’ says David.

Diana in a Bellville Sassoon sailor suit for her first official photograph with the Queen and Prince Charles, 1981

Diana chose a sailor suit from the studio’s ready-to-wear collection for her first official portrait with the Queen. After that, it was all couture. ‘She was a joy to dress. She could wear any colour and look wonderful,’ says David. ‘Some of the royal ladies could be difficult but Diana would always send little thank-you notes or twirl around saying, “They’re going to love this!” She really was a delight.’

David was the perfect guide to the daunting new world of haute couture. By the time Diana came along he had dressed every royal lady except the Queen and almost every star of the day, including Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Julie Christie, Helen Mirren, Catherine Deneuve, Jackie Kennedy and Ivana Trump.

Diana with David at a viewing of a charity auction of her dresses, 1997

His first encounter with the royals came shortly after he joined Belinda Bellville’s couture house in 1958, when he was sent to Buckingham Palace to supervise the final fitting of a bridesmaid’s dress for Princess Anne. He was almost overcome with excitement and apprehension. He had originally wanted to be an actor and been accepted at Rada, but his father disapproved. Instead, he won a place at the Royal College of Art where he studied fashion design. 

Belinda, a six-foot, aristocratic and ‘very intimidating’ designer, was in need of an assistant and hired him on the strength of his graduation show (they later became business partners). Belinda was renowned for dressing debutantes – including the Duchess of Cornwall, whose coming-out dress was a Bellville design – and ‘was forever correcting me. One day I mentioned Ascot and she told me very severely that As-cot, as I’d pronounced it, was a water heater. I can hear her now: “And we don’t say navy, David, it’s navy blue.”’

As he and the fitter arrived at Buckingham Palace for their appointment with nine-year-old Princess Anne, who was to be bridesmaid to Lady Pamela Mountbatten and David Hicks, instead of swanning through the gates, as he had imagined, they were directed to the tradesman’s entrance.

One of Princess Diana’s favourite Bellville Sassoon outfits is her ‘caring dress’, pictured here at a hostel for abandoned children in Brazil – she liked to wear it to meet children because of the bright colours

Another favourite was this pretty floral dress, which she wore on several occasions, including Prince William’s 1982 christening

‘We stepped into a lift with a liveried page who took us to the nursery floor. There were ink stains on the carpet and toys all over the place. Princess Anne was wearing Clarks sandals and had braces on her teeth. The nanny put her into the bridesmaid’s dress and Prince Charles came in wearing short, grey flannel trousers, holding his hands behind his back, and walked round his sister inspecting the dress.

‘Then the Queen appeared. In those days you had to walk backwards in the presence of royalty, so I took a step back to make a bow and my foot went into one of the corgis’ bowls, which was full of water that splashed all over my shoes. The Queen pulled a cord by the side of the fireplace and up came a liveried page to wipe my shoes. The funny thing was the bridesmaid’s dress was a beautiful white organdie and the Queen’s only concern was whether it would wash.’

This was the first of many surreal encounters with the royals. A few years later, he and Belinda arrived at Kensington Palace for a fitting with Princess Margaret (she was living in the apartment that is now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s London residence). This was shortly after her marriage to Lord Snowdon, when the princess was endeavouring to live an ‘ordinary’ family life. When they rang the bell, no one answered.

David and Belinda went down the steps to the basement, rang another bell and were astonished when the door was opened by Princess Margaret herself. Paintbrush in hand, she was whitewashing the conservatory wall – in an Yves Saint Laurent burgundy velvet suit with a plastic bag over the top for protection.

The princess at Hampton Court Palace in 1982

Handwritten letters from Diana to David with her notes on his designs

‘Another day we turned up and she was sitting at her desk with two sets of newspaper clippings in front of her. We had made part of her wardrobe for her first official visit to the US with Snowdon, and Women’s Wear Daily, the leading fashion paper, had been very rude about her clothes, giving her marks every day,’ says David.

 ‘Fortunately for us, all our clothes had been given five stars – poor [Norman] Hartnell and others didn’t do so well. The paper remarked on her big handbags and wondered if she kept sandwiches in them and said her mink coat looked moth-eaten. “Well, if they want to give me a new mink coat I’ll happily take it,” the princess said.

‘It was really very amusing, but she didn’t see the funny side. She was a character and her mood could change for no reason at all. She could be the very royal ma’am one day, then she’d be familiar with you, but if you tried to be familiar back she didn’t like it.’

Diana wore Bellville Sassoon designs on numerous occasions, including to a concert in 1989, left, and a visit to Hereford Cathedral, 1985, centre, and attending a function while pregnant in 1982, right

Diana wearing a tartan jacket and pencil skirt to turn on the Bond Street Christmas lights, 1993

Diana was the polar opposite, eager to chat once the formal ‘Good morning, ma’am’ was done with. ‘She was always asking, “What have you been doing, what have you seen?” She knew I loved the ballet and so did she. There were times when I’d be quite fraught and she’d pat the sofa beside her and say, “Now, what’s the problem? Sit down and have a cup of tea.” She was good at listening to your woes but she rarely opened up about her own. The only time I saw her cry was the week before the wedding, when everything got on top of her.’

On that occasion, Diana arrived at the Knightsbridge studio straight from a wedding rehearsal at St Paul’s Cathedral, very distressed. She was finding it impossible to cope with the publicity and hated being followed by the press.

‘It was the final fitting for the going-away outfit and she was very tearful and panicking because she’d forgotten to get a bag. I told her not to worry and had a little pochette made in the same material. There was a tiny compartment for a mirror and I added a little card saying, “Lots of happiness on your great day.” She told me that when she got off the train on the way to her honeymoon her hair got blown in the wind, so she took out her mirror and the card fell out. She was very touched by it.’

Diana wearing David’s ‘fairy princess’ chiffon dress for the Splendours of the Gonzaga exhibition in 1981, the night before she announced her pregnancy with Prince William

After the wedding David was sent a piece of wedding cake: he still has the box. He became a regular at Kensington Palace and made more than 70 outfits for Diana, including a glittering dress for the state opening of parliament and a floaty ‘fairy princess’ dress she wore the night before it was announced that she was pregnant with Prince William.

Years later he also made clothes for her friend Sarah Ferguson, who had married Prince Andrew and become the Duchess of York (Belinda had retired in 1982). ‘One evening a motorcade with two outriders drew up. It was 6pm and the shop was shut. Sarah came in and said that she wanted some clothes and we thought, “Oh dear, really?” She had been getting terrible press.

Diana with Charles attending their first state opening of Parliament as a married couple, 1981

Diana in the going-away outfit David designed for her honeymoon, 1981; wearing a white shimmer silk maternity dress to meet Elizabeth Taylor in 1982

‘She was great fun, very lively, but she wouldn’t listen. I’d say, “Oh, come on, ma’am, that skirt’s too short for you,” and it would be, “No, I like it like this.” Diana would listen but Sarah never did. She’d come in one week and have lost weight then the next she’d have put it on again, so we were forever taking things in then letting them out.’

A visit to Buckingham Palace around that time showed how fast royal mystique was fading. There were no more liveried pages and designers had been upgraded to using the main entrance. Prince Andrew and Sarah were recently married and did not yet have their own home, so they had been given a set of make-do rooms on the old nursery floor. 

‘There were balloons above the bed and on either side of it there were chamber pots because the loo was a half a mile away down a long corridor,’ says David. ‘Andrew’s clothes and dress uniforms were on a rail because there wasn’t enough hanging space for everything they had.

Diana wearing an LBD with beaded jewelled straps to a film premiere in 1991

‘Sarah wanted a very short Grecian gown for a fancy-dress party and when she went to show Andrew you could hear him say, “You’re not going to wear that, it’s outrageous!” She just laughed and said, “The Grecians would have…” and proceeded to wear it. She had camellias flown in from the US to pin to it.’

David retired in 2012, then masterminded a retrospective of his work at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London’s Bermondsey. He knew, because of the conversation just before she died, that Diana had kept her treasured going-away dress, but when he asked to borrow it for the exhibition, no one knew where it was. Buckingham Palace came up with an aubergine satin evening dress and when he went to collect it, an official said there was ‘a pink suit’ he could also have if he wanted.

Diana in a pink wool maternity coat, 1982, and wrapped up for a Christmas service at Gloucester Cathedral in 1981

‘As soon as I saw it, I said, “Oh my gosh, that’s it!”’ David says. ‘The organdie collar had been turned inside and a long-sleeved jacket we’d made in case of cold weather was draped over the top.’

It was in perfect condition, he says, but the dress was a desperately sad echo of Diana’s life story itself. The treasure was there at the palace, but no one appreciated what they had.

Tim Graham/Getty Images, Bettmann Archive, PA/PA Archive, David Levenson, Julian Parker/UK Press, Nils Jorgensen/Rex/Shutterstock, Fox Photos/Hulton Archive, Ted Blackbrow/Daily Mail, Mark Kauffman/The Life Picture Collection, Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone, Reginald Davis, Clive Arrowsmith/Camera Press, Trevor Leighton/timeincukcontent.com, Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive 

From oyalty to red carpet: Bellville Sassoon’s famous fans

A young PRINCESS ANNE wore this organdie bridesmaid’s dress for the wedding of Lady Pamela Mountbatten and David Hicks in 1960

PRINCESS MICHAEL OF KENT chose a cream crepe de chine and chantilly lace dress for her wedding ball in 1978

PRINCESS MARGARET wore this sapphire coat – in textile designer Bernat Klein’s ribbon tweed – over a silk dress to wow Hollywood on a 60s US tour