Turning up to an event in the same dress as someone else is a fashion faux pas we’d all prefer to avoid. But what happens when you arrive at a party, only to find out that you’ve accidentally chosen the same dress as Princess Diana?
That’s exactly what happened to Natasha Fairweather, when she was invited to a party at Windsor Castle in 1985 to celebrate the 21st birthdays of Prince Edward and his cousins Lady Helen Windsor, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones and James Ogilvy.
“I was at university with Edward but I didn't know him at all,” Fairweather, now a literary agent, tells Vogue over the phone. “But I met James Ogilvy two months before the party invitations went out – it wasn’t really my world, [so] it was very nice of him to ask me.”
After receiving the invitation, Fairweather faced the age-old dilemma of what to wear to the party, albeit with the added pressure that the Royal Family, including the Queen, would be in attendance. “My sister was living in London and much more glamorous than me, so she had this incredible dress she bought in the sale,” she explains.
But, by complete chance, it turned out the borrowed dress was the same strapless black and white gown by Murray Arbeid that Princess Diana had opted to wear that night (the royal also later wore the dress at a London banquet in December that year).
“It was a really huge party and I struggled to find my friends at first – there were three people that I knew,” Fairweather recalls. “I found one of them and he said, ‘God that’s an amazing dress, but I just saw Diana and I’m pretty sure she’s wearing exactly the same dress.’ So we go and have a gorp, and sure enough, it’s clear that she is.”
Unsure of the etiquette at such a high profile event (and whether it was best to just leave at that point), one of the other guests helped her seek advice from the Queen Mother. “I met someone who said, ‘Well, I know the Queen Mother a bit and she’s very good on this sort of thing’,” Fairweather says. “We found her in the drawing room, and I explained my predicament. She was very nice to me and she said, ‘That’s absolutely fine; you stay and enjoy yourself.’”
As more guests began to notice the doubling-up on the dress, it became a talking point of the party. “It made the party rather fun because everyone wanted to talk to me and see this dress,” Fairweather continues. “When I noticed that Diana and Charles had gone to the dance floor, I went and danced very close to them so that they would notice. As I remember it, Charles pointed it out to her and she laughed; it certainly wasn’t a big deal.”
Following the party, some of the guests told the press about what happened – leading to headlines such as “Di-Dentical” to appear in the papers the next day, with Fairweather even branded as “Dishy Natasha” in one article.
“One of my friends rang me and said ‘I’ve been offered £200’ – which is pretty incredible in the ’80 – ‘to give them your name and address’,” she says. “So then the paparazzi were there outside my door and I got offered increasing amounts of money to pose in the dress.”
Fairweather never did end up posing for the press, but 36 years later, the gown is up for auction thanks to her friend Chiara Menage, the founder of Menage Vintage, who actually supplied a number of looks worn by Emma Corrin as Princess Diana in season 4 of The Crown. “Chiara suggested now is maybe the time to sell the dress, and that we put it in this auction,” she explains.
After all these years, Fairweather hopes the gown will go to a buyer who appreciates the story behind the dress. “What’s the point of it being in an attic? It seems a shame to let it moulder away,” she concludes. “It would be lovely if someone enjoys the history of this dress and wears it, or maybe has it in their collection. It is a spectacularly beautiful dress.”
The Murray Arbeid evening gown is up for sale at Kerry Taylor Auctions on 7 December.
