Diana’s Dynasty sleeves
Diana liked the bow blouse by the Emanuels so much that she commissioned them to make her wedding dress, another notable Eighties extravaganza of flouncy neckline and giant, puffed sleeves.
indeed, the sleeves were extraordinary creations in themselves — huge, leg- of-mutton- shaped things, with bows at the elbow and a long cuff of antique lace falling frothily at the end.
Sleeves were worn big in the Eighties, part of that Dynasty-esque redefinition of a woman’s torso that involved shoulder pads and plunging necklines and, by contrast, made the waist look cinched and tiny.
Gina Fratini and Catherine Walker both made spectacular puffed sleeves for Diana, on fairytale dresses of delicate cream organza. During her first pregnancy, she wore a scarlet taffeta ‘Restoration’ ballgown (above) by Bellville Sassoon with peaked shoulders and Cavalier cuffs spilling with lace.
Voluminous sleeves were worn on day dresses, too — the racks at Laura ashley heaved with them — and Diana was a fan in particular of Jan Vanvelden’s big, draped numbers, caught at the wrist with neat little cuffs of matching fabric.
Her love of frou-frou frills made the shift to a sleeker silhouette later in life all the more pronounced. in fact, the older, shift-dress-loving Diana didn’t much like sleeves at all. Her arms were toned, her shoulders tanned: sleeves would hide some of her best features. She had a body confidence few women could match.