Tea, scones and dishing about Diana

By JEANNE MALMGREN

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 20, 2000

At Saks Fifth Avenue in Tampa, a select group of guests is treated to a discourse on royal duds by "a charming gentleman'' from London.

TAMPA -- You know how it is: Sometimes, on a hot summer afternoon in Florida, you suddenly get the urge to chat about 18th-century royal ceremonial dress.

Thank goodness, then, for Saks Fifth Avenue, a store with a mission to educate as well as provide retail gratification.

Last week, Saks threw a small tea party on the second floor of its store at WestShore Plaza, amid the furs and St. John knits. Along with English tea and scones, the 40 or so guests -- nearly all women -- were treated to a brief lecture by someone introduced as "a charming gentleman, Mr. Nigel Arch."

Arch is a historian, author and director of the state apartments and royal ceremonial dress collection at Kensington Palace in London. He's an expert on how monarchs and their courtiers have dressed for five centuries.

He's also a great admirer of Maureen Rorech Dunkel, the Tampa woman who in 1997 bought 14 dresses worn by the late Princess Diana and started a charity tour with them. The show visited several cities in the United States and Canada and is on its way to New Zealand.

"It's a fantastic collection of dresses that shows the princess' evolving style," Arch told his Saks audience. "Maureen had terrific foresight in bidding for them."

That was the first clue that Arch's talk would be less about Henry VIII and more about the young woman he called "Die-AH-nah."

The audience seemed only too happy to ditch boring history and focus on Di. As Arch spoke, women craned their necks to see two cocktail dresses displayed behind red rope and guarded by an unsmiling Saks security man.

[Times photo: Thomas M. Goethe] British historian Nigel Arch, an expert on royal dress, talks more about Princess Diana than Henry VIII, to the delight of his audience at Saks Fifth Avenue in Tampa.

The dresses were simple. One dark navy, one black. Sleeveless. Knee-length. Understated.

The important thing was, Diana wore them. And they aren't among the dresses Rorech Dunkel has sent on tour. This was the first time anyone, anywhere had seen them in public.

"They're on loan from the princess' favorite designer, Catherine Walker," Arch explained to his audience. "Diana wore these only on private occasions, probably formal dinners at home."

Then Arch got back to the subject listed on the press release. Royal dress, he said, serves a purpose, whether in the 18th century or today.

"It's almost like a uniform. You're wearing it for your role. It's not about comfort, necessarily, it's about being on show."

He dropped a few historical nuggets.

For example: In the 1700s, stiff hoop skirts extended an impressive 8 feet from the wearer's waist.

"You would not have been able to bend over," Arch observed. "But you didn't need to, because if you so much as dropped a handkerchief, someone would pick it up for you." No word on how women got through doorways.

The guests, most of them regular Saks customers who had been invited to this event by phone, listened raptly. One woman fanned herself with a gold leaf eyeglass case. Gucci handbags were tucked demurely beneath white folding chairs.

Most visitors to Kensington Palace are Americans, Arch said. He hopes they will continue to come.

"Kensington Palace is a charity. We get no money from the government, which is why we'd like you to think of us when you're planning your next vacation."

Rorech Dunkel's collection of Diana dresses has raised more than $1-million for charities favored by Princess Diana. Next spring the dresses will return to Kensington Palace, where the princess lived.

There they'll join a permanent collection of royal costumes dating to 1689: gowns from the wardrobe of Queen Victoria, childhood outfits worn by the present Prince of Wales, a cotton muslin dress belonging to 19th century Princess Charlotte.

Fascinating things, to be sure, but Arch knows his trump card.

"Do come and see the royal palace that was Diana's home."

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