Elizabeth Emanuel

Elizabeth Emanuel
Elizabeth Emanuel at her Maida Vale studio in 2011
Born	Elizabeth Florence Weiner (1953-07-05) 5 July 1953 (age 63) London
Residence	London
Nationality	British
Education	Royal College of Art
Occupation	Fashion designer

Elizabeth Florence Emanuel (née Weiner, born 5 July 1953) is a British fashion designer who, along with her former husband David Emanuel, is best known for her 1981 work for the wedding of Diana, Princess of Wales. Since then Elizabeth developed her own label, worked in costume design for airlines, cinema, pop video and television productions, as well as providing a couture service to some of the world's most famous women.

Born in London to an American father Samuel Charles (Buddy) Weiner and British mother Brahna Betty Weiner. Elizabeth was educated at the City of London School for Girls and then, upon leaving school, Elizabeth took a year's foundation course at the Harrow School of Art, followed by a three-year diploma course in Fashion Design.

At Harrow she met and married David Emanuel in 1976, and together they became the first married couple to be accepted by the Royal College of Art for a two-year master's degree in Fashion. Her first collection was sold exclusively at Browns.

Following the birth of their two children, Oliver and Eloise; in 1977 the couple launched their own fashion house, Emanuel Salon, in Brook Street, Mayfair. In 1979, they decided to close their ready–to–wear shop, 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, the couple were chosen to design the wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer for her marriage to Charles, Prince 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."