David Emanuel (fashion designer)
| David Emanuel | |
|---|---|
| Born |
17 November 1952 Bridgend, Wales |
| Nationality | Welsh |
| Education |
Cardiff School of Art and Design Harrow School of Art Royal College of Art, London |
| Known for | Fashion designer |
| Awards | Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, University of South Wales, Cardiff Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists and Designers |
David Emanuel (born 17 November 1952) is a Welsh fashion designer who is best known for having designed the wedding dress worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1981.
He participated in the British reality television show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2013 and came runner-up to singer Kian Egan. He currently hosts the TLC flagship show Say Yes to the Dress UK.
Born and brought up in Bridgend in Glamorgan, South Wales. Speaking Welsh as his first language, Emanuel attended Porthcawl Secondary school where he excelled in music and art. He became head choir boy at his local church, sang in the County Youth Choir, played violin in the County Youth Orchestra and taught himself to play the cello. He was accepted by the Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff, but chose to study design at Cardiff School of Art and Design (1972–75). He went on to study Fashion Design at Harrow School of Art, London (1974–75), where he met Elizabeth Weiner, whom he married in 1976. David and Elizabeth Emanuel studied design together at the Royal College of Art, London (1976–77), the only married couple the College has accepted.
David worked for two seasons as an assistant to royal designer Hardy Amies at Savile Row and, aged 25, he launched his own fashion house, Emanuel, in 1977, working in partnership with his wife Elizabeth, with whom he had two children—Oliver and Eloise. They decided to close their ready–to–wear shop, in 1979, so that they could concentrate on the couture (custom made) side of the business, and became a favourite designer of Lady Diana Spencer before her marriage. In 1981, David and Elizabeth Emanuel were chosen to design the wedding dress worn by Diana, Princess of Wales. The dress—seen by over 700 million people worldwide—was made of ivory silk, pure taffeta and antique lace, with 10,000 pearls and sequins, and had a 25 ft train. Of the dress, Lisa Marsh writes in the Fashion Encyclopedia that "Creations by artists from Botticelli to Renoir and Degas were used as influences, as were photographs of some of the more romantic women in history. The garments seen on Greta Garbo in Camille, Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind, and Marlene Dietrich in The Scarlet Empress were all recreated to some degree." David continued to dress Diana, Princess of Wales after her wedding.
...
Wikipedia