India Hicks may have been a little taken aback at the time by the super poofy, flouncy bridesmaid dress she was asked to wear for Princess Diana’s 1981 wedding, but she now realizes it was a part of royal fashion history.
Prince Charles’s second cousin and goddaughter, who was 12 years old at the time, told Insider in an interview published Wednesday that she feels “proud and delighted” to have been a part of that special day. Although, she confessed that as a self-described “tomboy,” she was also “a little alarmed at being asked to wear a frilly dress.” But these days, she realizes, “It was a time and place and a moment in fashion in the 1980s. So it was voluptuous and over the top, and drama everywhere.”
She continued, “I understand that those dresses were so befitting to the era. However, if you were a tomboy like me…when you are asked to be a bridesmaid, you are proud and delighted, but you are a little alarmed at being asked to wear a frilly dress, as you can imagine.” Hicks concluded, “Looking back, it’s incredible to think of how historical that wedding was. I think at the time, everybody thought it was this fairytale—nobody understood what was to come. I felt hugely proud that I was part of it, but you know, afterwards my mother said to me, ‘Right, that is that, and now it’s back to your normal life.’”
Hicks is a newlywed herself after marrying her partner of 26 years and father to her five children, David Flint Wood, just last year. The former model explained to Brides that their love “could not be called a whirlwind romance.” The pair’s friendship first took a romantic turn when Hicks was in her late 20s and on vacation in the Bahamas when she discovered Flint Wood was also on the island. “I decided to try to find him. David calls this our Casablanca moment,” she said. “Of all the gin joints in all the world, I walked into his. He was running a small hotel, and I decided to stay.” Shortly after, she discovered she was pregnant with their first child and her response was, “No thank you.” She said, “In my mind, I was saying, ‘I’m a strong, independent woman! I don’t need to get married!’ Which is what I said for 26 years, until suddenly I didn’t.”
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
— Who Torched the Pornhub Palace?
— Eight N95 and KN95 Face Masks to Shop Now
— Inside Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Unlikely Rise and Precipitous Fall at Liberty University
— Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson Have Settled the Debt
— What to Do With Britney Spears’s Rage?
— Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster Open Up About The Music Man’s Return
— Cover Story: Priyanka Chopra Jonas on Her Excitement for the Future
— Eve Babitz Bares It All
— Kendall Jenner Asked for Approval Before Wearing a Barely There Dress to a Wedding
— Prince Andrew Will “Disappear From Sight” After Being Stripped of Royal Titles
— From the Archive: André Leon Talley on Love and the Importance of Gloves, Darling
— Sign up for “The Buyline” to receive a curated list of fashion, books, and beauty buys in one weekly newsletter.
