Diana’s Rs10m scarlet suit goes on public display

LONDON: Jasper Conran once said whenever Diana, Princess of Wales, discussed her clothes with him, she always wanted to know: ‘What message will I be giving out if I wear this?’

Now a striking scarlet suit specifically made for her by Conran, who became a household name in his 20s as her favourite designer, has gone on public display for the first time at Diana’s former home in Kensington Palace.

Diana wore it for the official naming ceremony of the P&O cruise liner 'Royal Princess', named in her honour in November 1984, and like so many of her fashion choices it offers a fascinating flash of her character, say the display’s organisers. Eleri Lynn, curator at Historic Royal Palaces, the charity which bought the rare example of Diana’s day wear at an auction for £50,000 (Rs 10 million) last year, said: ‘It’s a timeless, elegant suit and how she wore it shows her sense of style - what I call "tradition with a twist", reports the international media.It’s a bold colour so she can be seen in a crowd, and at the liner launch she wore it with a jaunty red beret. The beret is fun and playful, but is quite sailor-like too which is a nod to the importance of the occasion.’

Diana also wore the red wool jacket and skirt suit for a visit to Cirencester Police Station, Gloucestershire, in February 1985, but that time accessorised it with a scarlet boater, white blouse with wing collar and black bow tie, creating an entirely different look.

By then, Diana was approaching her fourth year of marriage to Prince Charles, Prince William was two years old and Prince Harry was just five months.

Although the red suit is not as instantly recognisable as her infamous ‘revenge dress’ - the off-the shoulder black number she wore to a Vanity Fair party on the night that Charles admitted his adultery in a television documentary in 1994 - or the midnight blue velvet gown she wore to dance with John Travolta at the White House in 1985, it fetched twice its estimate when it was offered for sale at Kerry Taylor auctions in London last summer.

The auction house said Diana's day wear is much rarer than her evening wear, much of which she auctioned off to raise funds for AIDS and cancer charities in the late 1990s.

Ms Lynn yesterday said: ‘In the Eighties Diana had not yet realised the currency of her clothing, so she gave much of it to friends and it mostly disappeared.

‘But pieces like this suit are as equally important as the famous evening gowns because they talk about her life as a working princess. It’s wonderful for us to have it.’ The scarlet suit now forms part of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection - a collection of 10,000 items of royal, court and ceremonial dress in Historic Royal Palace’s care.

The suit will be part of a display entitled ‘Diana: Designing For A Princess’ in Kensington Palace’s Stone Hall, as part of standard palace admission.