From the green Burberry coat Princess Diana wore while dating Prince Charles to the iconic Versace gown featured on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar, and even her childhood teddy bear, this collection offers a glimpse into every era of Diana’s life. It also includes jewelry, LPs, and some of the world’s most famous gowns.
Diana expert and author Renae Plant has spent years gathering these treasures from around the globe. Yet, despite its significance, this remarkable collection remains hidden away in an anonymous Los Angeles warehouse, inaccessible to the public.
While millions of Diana fans can view parts of the exhibition online, Renae believes the collection deserves a physical space where it can be appreciated in person.
Now, she is seeking investors to help create a permanent home for this extraordinary tribute to Diana’s legacy, making it accessible for all to experience up close.
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Known as the Swan Lake dress, Diana wore this beaded gown by French designer Jacques Azagury to a performance by the English National Ballet at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in June 1997. It takes pride of place in Renae Plant’s collection
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The collection also features the ‘Washington Dress’, a red silk georgette column gown worn by the princess to a Red Cross Ball Gala dinner at the British Embassy in the capital
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The museum will even feature a ‘back-up’ version of Diana’s famous wedding dress – in case the original was damaged – by David and Elizabeth Emanuel. Diana is pictured wearing the original as she leaves St Paul’s Cathedral following her London wedding to the Prince of Wales in 1981
‘There is something magical about seeing a dress worn by Diana with your own eyes,’ explained Australian-born Renae.
‘Diana captured an era, a moment in time. You can’t help but be moved by it. ‘My dream is to find someone experienced in working with historical collections like this to help find the Princess Diana Museum a bricks and mortar home. The time has come.’
Among the 2700 separate items are a green velvet Catherine Walker dress worn to the National Portrait gallery in March 1995.
There’s also a couture beaded blue-grey silk dress by the same designer worn by Diana to a charity auction of her dresses in June 1997, shortly before her death. That, too, is instantly recognizable to fans.
Still more poignant is the Chanel wool dress jacket and belt which Diana wore to her grandmother and father’s funerals.
The collection, which can be viewed online in 3D, includes a replica of the ‘Swan Lake’ dress worn by Diana to a Royal Gala performance of the ballet at London’s Royal Albert Hall in June 1997, hand-beaded by designer Jacques Azagury with crystal bugle beads.
Then there’s the ‘Washington’ dress, a red silk georgette column gown worn by the princess to a Red Cross Ball Gala dinner at the British Embassy, Washington, in June 1997.
Renae’s museum covers every decade of Diana’s life.
A well-worn childhood teddy bear and Barbie doll sit alongside exquisite baby dresses, a paint box and an amethyst friendship ring.
From her teenage years the collection houses LP albums including favorite records by Abba, the Beatles, and Bryan Adams. There’s also an Elton John disc which, touchingly, has a heart drawn by Diana around the song ‘Candle in the Wind’ on the cover.
Elton would become one of Diana’s closest confidantes and this is the song, of course, that he would later rework into a poignant tribute played live at Diana’s 1997 funeral.
Visitors to The Princess Diana Museum can see images of the princess’s Hunter rainboots, worn during a photoshoot in Balmoral, Scotland in May 1981 with her then-fiancé Prince Charles ahead of their July 29,1981 wedding. They look particularly well worn-in.
The collection features Diana’s classic olive-green Burberry wool coat with ‘Diana Spencer’ sewn into the label.
She often wore this when dating Charles, including on the occasion when in October 24, 1980, she was photographed at Ludlow Races with Camilla Parker Bowles – the woman who would become her nemesis and of whom Diana famously said: ‘There were three people in this marriage.’
