The Designer Behind the Royal Wardrobe

David Sassoon, the British designer for Princess Diana, has died. He passed away in London at the age of 92, as reported by Women’s Wear Daily, a U.S. fashion magazine. Together with his colleague Belinda Bellville, who died last year, he designed over 70 dresses for Lady Diana and many for the entire British royal family. Over more than 60 years of his career, Sassoon created many elegant and precious cocktail, ceremony, bridal, and evening dresses for royals and aristocrats, actresses, and international celebrities.

His first royal assignment dates back to 1960, when he and Bellville were asked to design a long dress for Princess Anne, who was then 10 years old. The child was to serve as a bridesmaid at the wedding of Lady Pamela Mountbatten to architect David Hicks. He also designed dresses for Princess Margaret, Prince Michael of Kent, the Duchess of York, and the Duchess of Gloucester.

The special relationship with Diana

Sassoon claimed to be ‘the only designer to have dressed every female member of the English royal family (except Queen Elizabeth).’ More than 70 dresses were created by Sassoon for Princess Diana, including her iconic cantaloupe-colored travel outfit on her wedding day, as well as key pieces of her maternity wardrobe. Sassoon recounted that when Diana Spencer got engaged to Prince Charles of England, her mother brought her to the Bellville Sassoon boutique in Knightsbridge, London, founded by Belinda Bellville in 1953: it was the first assignment of a long collaboration with the princess.

In addition to designing clothes for English and European royals and aristocrats, Sassoon and Bellville also created looks for Jackie Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Jerry Hall, Camilla Shand (Queen Camilla), Jean Shrimpton, Shakira Caine, and Marisa Berenson.

Who he was

Born in London on October 5, 1932, to a family of Iraqi Sephardic Jews, David Sassoon dreamed of becoming an actor, but his father objected, so he chose to work in the fashion industry. In 1958, he became an assistant to designer Belinda Bellville, and in 1970 the boutique-atelier officially took the name Bellville Sassoon. Their designs appeared on the covers of ‘Vogue’ and ‘Harper’s Bazaar’ among numerous international magazines.

Sassoon stopped designing haute couture dresses in the early 2000s, dedicating himself to ready-to-wear. ‘No one has time for fittings and the days of creating entire wardrobes are over,’ he said in an interview. Princess Anne remained a long-time client of the designer. In 2008, at the State Banquet at Windsor Castle in honor of French President Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni, Princess Anne wore Sassoon’s hand-embroidered Wedgwood blue jacket and matching skirt.

The portrait: ‘Humble and Witty’

Sassoon was at Buckingham Palace in the 1980s on several occasions to dress Princess Sarah Ferguson, wife of Prince Andrew. Everyone remembers the designer as a witty and charming man, and the English press describes him as a highly respected designer in his field. Famous, yet humble: the designer, like other craftsmen, entered the royal residences through the side door.