How she gave Charles the bold shoulder

Gina Fratini for Hartnell, 1990

DIANA loved daring one-shouldered dresses, which showed off her gym-honed torso, even after the style fell out of fashion.

Intriguingly, she commissioned a large number of these asymmetrical gowns during the latter years of her by now loveless marriage to Prince Charles. It was as if Diana, two years away from the announcement of their official separation, wanted to prove to the husband she felt had rejected her that she was still a woman to be desired.

And desired she was, with a string of male admirers including her close friend James Gilbey, who was unwittingly recorded by an amateur radio ham around this time on the phone to Diana, calling her ‘Squidgy’.

This striking sari-inspired white silk chiffon gown trimmed with pearlised sequins and beads was first unveiled for a startlingly sexy official portrait by Terence Donovan in 1990.

According to another of her favourite designers, David Sassoon, the princess liked to be rebellious in her choice of outfit. ‘She loved the fun of saying: “Oh the press are going to love this”.

‘She absolutely knew certain dresses would cause comment, and she enjoyed that,’ he reveals. Diana loved this dress so much that she also wore it during an evening at the ballet on an official visit to Rio de Janiero, Brazil, in April 1991, as seen here when she is just shy of her 30th birthday.

The lines of the dress accentuate her collar bone, while her bronzed, glowing skin is emphasised by her shorter Sam McKnight haircut. The dramatic diamond and sapphire chandelier- style earrings offer a welcome splash of colour.

Her accessories have been chosen to enhance the purity of the colour — simple white satin heels and a matching clutch with modern gold bangles.

It was sold in the 1997 auction of her dresses for more than £50,000.