Princess Diana

A Princess Diana pink floral silk shirt dress designed by Catherine Walker for her clothing label "The Chelsea Design Company." Princess Diana was photographed wearing the dress at Prince William's Wetherby School Sports Day at Richmond Stadium on June 21, 1988; on August 22, 1991, leaving St. Mary's Hospital in London, and in 1992 leaving Prince Harry's school in Notting Hill.

A pink floral bias cut shirt dress composed of silk designed by Catherine Walker for The Chelsea Design Company. The dress features a folder-over collar, three-quarter-length sleeves with folded cuffs, and fabric-covered buttons that run from the bodice to the hem. There are two wide belt loops at the sides of the waist (belt not included) to emphasize the waistline. The impressionist floral pattern features soft and dark pink carnation-like blooms with green leaves. The bodice of the dress blousons for a baggy fit; then at the waist, the dress cinches in and goes into a circle skirt with a wide hem. The dress also features two diagonal cut pockets at the hips. There is a label sewn at the interior collar that reads, "The Chelsea Design Co. Ltd" with Sydney Street Chelsea London, Made in England, underneath. 

Princess Diana started wearing Catherine Walker's designs when she was pregnant with Prince William. Catherine Walker's designs from 1982 to 1988 were labeled "The Chelsea Design Company," the designer writes in her memoir, "In Paris, people would laugh at anyone putting their name on a shopfront and calling themselves a designer without the skill and background to prove it. In deference to this inexperience we called our business 'The Chelsea Design Company,' rather than 'Catherine Walker,' the name being simply a description of where we were and what we did."

Princess Diana was photographed in this specific dress during Prince William's school's sports day where Diana competed in a race with other other mothers, ultimately coming in first place, on June 21, 1988. Also photographed in the dress in 1991 when she was seen leaving St. Mary's Hospital in London after sitting with an AIDS patient, and was seen wearing the dress again in 1992 leaving Prince Harry's school in Notting Hill. The current Princess of Wales Kate Middleton fashions have paid homage to Diana's, her Michael Kors dress in 2019 when she was dropping her kids off at school; the similarities between the two designs were quickly documented by fashion periodicals Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Town & Country. 

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this item will benefit Muscular Dystrophy UK.

Additional links to images available upon request.