Princess Diana’s lilac dress in South Korea showed frosty tension in marriage

After working with Princess Diana for many years, the first time being three months after her 1981 wedding to King Charles, Catherine Walker made many of the Princess’s most recognisable ensembles.

The late Princess of Wales was even laid to rest wearing a Walker-designed black gown that she had purchased a few weeks before.

One of Diana’s most memorable Catherine Walker designs was worn in November 1992 on a royal tour to South Korea.

Diana was instructed by the late Queen to put up one last effort for the benefit of the Royal Family and complete an official tour to South Korea, even after her marriage to Charles was in disarray.

The gap between the royal couple was all too evident at a state banquet. They even had trouble communicating with one another.

The lilac crepe gown that Diana wore to the state banquet in South Korea, which she had previously worn for a state visit to the UAE in 1989, reflected the chilly setting between the Prince and Princess with its icy tones.

When Diana first wore this dress in the UAE, in accordance with local protocol, the embroidered bodice had to have a high neck, long sleeves, and a big full ballgown skirt.

Catherine Walker used a rose as her design inspiration, creating a floral pattern reminiscent of an English country garden and the potent English rose symbol.

But by 1992, Diana’s fashion had evolved to be more slick and upscale, and she requested the dress to be redesigned for the Wales family’s November royal tour to South Korea.

The bodice was transformed into a bolero and worn with a slender, lilac crepe gown to highlight Diana’s height and physique. Additionally, it would go well with the traditional silk dresses that the Korean women were likely to wear at the state banquet.

When Princess Diana auctioned 79 of her royal gowns for charity in 1997, this dress was labelled “Lot 52”, described as “a formal dinner dress with embroidered bolero jacket”.

At auction, this dress fetched $51,750, or roughly £39,530. The buyer donated it to Elizabeth Taylor, who auctioned it off in 1999 to benefit the American Foundation for AIDS Research.

Within a few weeks of her arrival back in Britain, Prime Minister John Major informed the House of Commons of Charles and Diana’s separation.