Diana exhibit to go on display at WEM
Four-month show contains 150 objects grouped into 9 galleries
Is it gaudy or gorgeous, dated or dazzling? You be the judge when the puff-sleeved wedding gown worn by the late Diana, Princess of Wales, goes on display for four months next year at West Edmonton Mall.
Diana, A Celebration will run from Feb. 9 through June 9 on the second level of the mall’s Phase 1. Covering almost 7,000 square feet, the award-winning exhibition contains 150 objects throughout nine galleries.
Among the items are 28 of her designer dresses, two diamond tiaras, family heirlooms, personal mementoes, paintings and rare home movies and photos.
The original text of the Earl Spencer’s tribute to his sister at the funeral in Westminster Abbey and books of condolences left by people throughout the world are also featured.
When she married Charles, Prince of Wales, on July 29, 1981, Lady Diana Spencer wore an ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown, with a 7.6-metre train, valued then at 9,000 British pounds.
One of the most famous dresses in the world, the design by David and Elizabeth Emanuel was also one of the most closely guarded secrets in fashion history.
The exhibition is on loan from Althorp Estate, the Spencer family’s 500-year-old ancestral home in England. All profits generated from the exhibition at Althorp and overseas go to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
Since it was established in 1998, the exhibition at Althorp alone has raised more than $2 million for charities supported by the memorial fund.
While the exhibition has travelled extensively around the U.S., it has only had one other Canadian stop — Toronto — and that was a decade ago.
Diana was 36 when she died a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997.