Girl with a (Princess Diana) Pearl Earring

My hometown, Bologna, in Italy, recently hosted a big art exhibition which showcased the great treasures of Dutch painting from the so-called "Golden Age", including priceless works by the likes of Rembrandt and Vermeer.

The centrepiece of the exhibition was the world-famous "Girl with a Pearl Earring", by Johannes Vermeer.

I 've always been attached to the novel of the same name by Tracy Chevalier, the first ever novel I read in the original English version, and the film that was later inspired by it, starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson, so I thought, what better chance to channel my inner "Girl" than by wearing my beloved Princess Diana pearl earrings?!

 

 

 

These were recently identified by Ayvee from Diana Jewels as the "Venus earrings", available from the Met Museum Store (worldwide shipping, and until midnight, 26 May, there's a Memorial Day promotion with 25% off everything). I first heard of these from a post on Tatiana's Delights blog and immediately decided I had to have them and ordered them straight away!

 

Inspired  by the earrings worn by the Roman goddess of love in Venus in Front of a Mirror, a famous painting by Dutch artist Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577– 1640). In the painting, Venus wears nothing but a bracelet and a pair of pearl teardrop earrings—one of the earrings is white, and the other, reflected in a mirror, is black (the Met Store did originally offer two versions of the earrings, one with white pearls, the other with black, although now only the white pearls remain available).



 

A detail of the painting via Rubylane.

 

Princess Diana wore hers quite often, both in black and white - here's a look at some of the occasions when she wore the white version:

 

 

At the Queen Mother's 90th birthday celebrations, 4 August 1990 (Getty Images).

 

At the funeral of her grandmother Lady Fermoy, 15 July 1993 (Princess Diana Fan blog).

 

On an official visit to Cameroon with Prince Charles, 22 March 1990 (Getty Images).

 

In July 1991 (via Jewelry.About.com).



 



I'm a big fan of pearls, and it's nice to think Princess Diana owned a pair of these very earrings!

"Fashion Rules" Exhibition at Kensington Palace - Part III, Princess Diana's Dresses

The first post of 2014 is dedicated to the third and final part of my review of the "Fashion Rules" exhibition currently on at Kensington Palace in London. Here you can have a look back at the first and second part of the series (dedicated respectively to the Queen's and Princess Margaret's dresses).

Today we'll take a look at the most recent dresses on show, those belonging to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. There aren't very many of them on show, just five, compared to the number of those worn by the Queen and Princess Margaret, by they make up a rather fascinating end to the exhibition, nonetheless.

 

The round case where the gowns are put on display.

 

 

Dress #1, one of my personal all-time favourites among the Princess's gowns, an evening dress of silk chiffon and satin with beaded trimming created by Zandra Rhodes in 1985 to be worn on the official visit to Japan the Princess undertook the following year with the Prince of Wales.

The dress pays homage to the host country (as is customary when planning royal wardrobes) in its colour, a soft shimmery powder pink, reminiscent of the colour of cherry blossom, in flower at the time of the royal visit. Princess Diana is seen below wearing it at a State banquet in Kyoto.

 

 

Photo Woman and Home.

 

 

Evening dress of scarlet silk with beaded embroidery by Bruce Oldfield, 1986.

First worn on the royal tour of Saudi Arabia the same year.

 

 

Dance dress of synthetic velvet embellished with sequins and glass beads, by Jacques Azagury, 1985, worn by the Princess to attend a dinner given by the Mayor of Florance during a visit to Italy in the same year, as seen below. The dress was among those auctioned by Christies, New York, in 1997 and was bought by People magazine, which lent it for the exhibition.

 

 

Photo People.

 

 

A detail of the bodice (photo itv).

 

 

Strapless evening dress of midnight blue silk tulle decorated with diamanté stars, by fashion designer Murray Arbeid (who specilized in evening gowns - "he didn't do clothes that had to get up, go out and earn a living before the cocktail hour, according to Veronica Horwell of The Guardian - I just love that phrase!), 1986.

The Princess wore the gown for a dinner at Claridges in London in honour of the President of Greece in 1986, as shown below (I love how she paired it with raspberry pink gloves!)...

 

 

Photo The Guardian.

 

 

...at the "Phantom of the Opera" London premiere...

 

 

Photo itv.

 

...and eventually Lord Snowdon photographed her in it for the Christies auction catalogue in 1997:

 

 

Photo Commercial Appeal.

 

 

The final Diana gown in the exhibition is probably one of the most recent acquisitions of the Royal Ceremonial Dress collection at Kensington Palace and is the one you can see centre right in the photo above. A pink sequinned ivory crepe gown with asymmetric neckline, by Catherine Walker, 1991. It was acquired, among others, by the museum at the March 2013 auction of Princess Diana dresses.

 

 

Above, the Princess is seen wearing it on an official visit to Brazil (photo Vogue).

 

 

So, what did you think of this array of fabulous dresses?

Be sure to leave a comment and let me know which is your favourite!

 

 

 

 

 

Bridal Tiaras in the British Royal Family, Part II

After taking a look last week at bridal tiaras of days gone by, let's start off today with something a little closer to us in time, and a piece most of you will warmly remember for the sense of momentous historic occasion associated to it: the Spencer family tiara, as worn by Lady Diana on her wedding day, 29 July 1981.

The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor has a lot of background information on this piece which, in its present form, dates back to circa 1935.

 

 

 

Princess Diana never owned the tiara, which was in fact her family's property: she borrowed it when needed first from her father, then from her brother. This, and the fact that the Princess wore the tiara quite often, sometimes preferring it to the other piece she had available, on loan from the Queen, the Cambridge Lovers Knot tiara, because it was somewhat lighter and less encumbrant to wear, was reportedly the source of some family tensions.

 

In fact, the Princess was seen many times during the years of her marriage wearing the tiara, sometimes on State occasions or other important official functions.

 

 

Nowadays, due to the Princess' unweavering popularity, the tiara is widely replicated, so that every bride can look the part on her own special day (or on an any ordinary day, really, as even sterling silver rings in the shape of Princess Diana's tiara are now available!).



Five years later, on 23 July 1986, it was Sarah Ferguson's turn to marry into the Royal family, when she wed Prince Andrew.


 
Her choice of headwear was extremely original, as she chose to wear a floral garland on top of her veil, which she removed after she had signed the wedding register to reveal a rather splendid diamond diadem, which had been bought especially for her by the Queen from Garrard & Co.

The Duchess wore her tiara at a number of State functions in later years.

Then it was quite a long time before we got to see any other new bridal tiaras, and that was at Prince Edward's wedding to Sophie Rhys-Jones thirteen years later, on 19 June 1999. The new Countess of Wessex wore a piece which had been remodeled for her using jewels from the Queen's private collection.

Well, I have to say I'm not a particularly huge fan of the Wessex wedding tiara...It really still looks like four separate pieces haphazardly thrown together, and it does look as though it's perched precariously on her head and probably fixed in place with kirby grips (agh!). And do I even mention the dreadful black-and-white pearl parure designed by Prince Edward as a wedding present? Thought not. I just hope we won't have the misfortune of seeing the necklace in public ever again!

The tiara has grown on me a bit over the years, though, as it's probably the piece the Countess wears more often among the tiaras in her possession, so we get to see it out a lot. It's not that bad, but it's definitely not my favourite either!

 

I'll see you on Wednesday with a look at the most recent royal weddings!

 To be continued...