Everyone was waiting to see what Diana was going to wear...

FASHION designer Elizabeth Emanuel was with a client in her studio when she received a phone call from Princess Diana - which caused her to scream with excitement.

- BY YOLANTHE FAWEHINMI

The princess - then Lady Diana Spencer - had chosen Elizabeth and her former husband David Emanuel, 72, to make her wedding dress for her forthcoming marriage to the then Prince Charles.

Elizabeth, now 71, has worked with other members of the royal family, and celebrities including Bianca Jagger, Elizabeth Taylor, and Sharon Osbourne but was in no doubt that this was a life-changing moment.

Often regarded the most famous dress of all time, with 750 million viewers tuning in to coverage of the royal wedding on July 29, 1981, Elizabeth knew her creation was going to “be part of history”.

It's why the self-proclaimed hoarder, has invited film crews into her Maida Vale studio to document the process of how she designed and created the famous gown.

Secrets Of Diana's Wedding Dress, a new 5 documentary, will feature contributions from Elizabeth and David, members of their team, and archives of drawings, unseen personal photographs, and original fabric relating to the dress, which was made of ivory silk, pure taffeta and antique lace, 10,000 pearls, sequins, and notably had a 25ft-long train that filled the aisle of St Paul’s Cathedral.

The dress captured the world’s attention and helped cement Princess Diana as a fashion icon.

It introduced the over-the-top and romantic wedding trend, which still influences bridal fashion today.

Here, Elizabeth talks about the process of collating her extensive archive, Diana’s style evolution, and what the wedding morning was like.

What was the process of pulling together an archive?

I wanted to keep everything [relating to the dress], every single sequin, every pin, because I'm so terrified that one day I'll forget [about it].