Diana, A Celebration at the Cincinnati Museum Center

I have been to countless special exhibits at the Cincinnati Museum Center, but this week I went to an exhibit that will live in my memory forever.  The ‘Diana, A Celebration’ exhibit is an amazing collection of Princess Diana’s memorabilia, pictures, jewels, dresses, home movies, and more.  This priceless collection has been traveling from museum to museum for years, but Cincinnati is the last stop before the dresses and treasures are packed back up and returned to Althorp Estate, the home of the Spencer Family.  I wandered around this exhibit in awe, with goosebumps on my arms and tears in my eyes.  It is such a beautiful and moving exhibit dedicated to “the people’s princess”.

I grew up idolizing Diana, I remember watching her wedding and her funeral.  And I followed all of her glamorous life in between those events on the pages of magazines.  I remember wanting to be a princess when I was little because of Princess Di.  I even have a small porcelain pill box commemorating Diana & Charles’ wedding that my Auntie Annie brought back from England for me.  Diana was an inspiration, she didn’t just wear her crown and perform royal duties, she was a passionate humanitarian who brought attention to AIDS, cared for the poor, and spent much of her life focused on charitable causes.  Princess Diana was one of a kind, and this exhibit honors her memory by giving the public a glimpse of her life up close.  The exhibit highlights her family history, her childhood, her wedding, her status as fashion icon, her untimely death, and her focus on humanitarian efforts.

Diana, A Celebration

Childhood Memories:

Diana’s Wedding Dress:

This gorgeous dress right out of a fairy tale is the highlight of the exhibit.  The dress is made of ivory silk taffeta and lace, and is hand-embroidered with more than 10,000 pearls and sequins, with a 25 foot train.  The dress is accompanied by a flower girl dress, Diana’s veil with tiara, jewelery and the sweet slippers she wore that were made of silk with suede soles so that she would not slip on her wedding day.  Her train was so long that she had to practice walking in the dress before the actual wedding.  In the “wedding room” you can watch video footage of the wedding of Diana & Charles, see pictures from their wedding day, along with other mementos from this special day.  The wedding dress is only allowed to be handled by two gentlemen, Nick Grossmark and Graeme Murton who travel with the dress, and have been the only people to touch the dress in 16 years.  They also helped choose the other dresses that are included in this exhibit.  We were lucky enough to hear them talk about the dresses at the Media Preview of the Diana exhibit.  What an interesting job these guys have!

Diana’s Dresses:

Over 25 dresses are included in this exhibit, and I recognized many of them from pictures of Diana over the years.  Each dress is accompanied by a card describing who made the dress, background information of the outfit, and where the princess wore the dress.  The collection even includes the dress Diana wore at her last public appearance.  Diana truly was a fashionable lady!

Elton John, Candle in the Wind:

Don’t miss this show!  Diana, A Celebration will be on display through August 17th 2014 at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  For ticket information visit the Cincinnati Museum Center website.  Please note, the Museum Center will be offering extended hours during this exhibit, and on Wednesdays they will have a special cocktail hour, Diana: Toast of the Town from 6-9pm with wine, English beers and light snacks.  So dust off your tiaras, gather your girlfriends, daughters, mothers or even drag your husband, and get yourself to Diana, a Celebration at the Cincinnati Museum Center.  Once you make your way through the Diana, a Celebration exhibit, be sure to linger in the ‘Daughters of the Queen City’ gallery to learn more about the “princesses” of Cincinnati.  I love that the Museum Center has tied local history in with the Diana exhibit.

A special thanks to my friends at the Cincinnati Museum Center for inviting me to take part in the Media Preview of the ‘Diana, A Celebration’ exhibit.  I will never forget this show.