Gnyuki Torimar

Fashion drawings for designs for Princess Diana.

• Sold as a set of 4.
• Gnyuki Torimaru (Yuki) (Japanese, born 1937).
• Original pencil drawings (one hand-colored) on lightweight paper.
• Each titled, signed and dated by Yuki.
• All on acid-neutral card in contrasting mount.
• Professionally glazed and archivally framed.

A series of four concept drawings and studies for dresses and other outfits designed for H.R.H. The Princess of Wales, including two for Diana's 1986 state visit to Japan.

"[Yuki] was minimalist before anyone thought about minimalism." — Meredith Etherington-Smith

Throughout her public life when visiting foreign countries, Diana would commission native designers to create custom dresses and other fashions for her to wear. Gnyuki Torimaru (Yuki) had been on the London fashion scene since the 1970s, having previously worked for the London fashion house Rembrandt, as well as designers Norman Hartnell, Michael of Carlos Place, and Pierre Cardin before striking out on his own. His work was noted for its simplicity; known as a "[master] of drapery" (Watson), according to the V&A: "[h]is designs have always been body-conscious, and he is admired both for his craftsmanship and for the fact that his designs suit larger as well as smaller women." His clothes appeared on the covers of VOGUE and his clients already included Jerry Hall, Bianca Jagger, Twiggy, and Farrah Fawcett when Diana approached the Japanese-born designer (on the recommendation of Lady Drogheda) to design a dress for the princess's upcoming 1986 state visit to Japan.

Diana's arrival in Japan was widely anticipated, with the United Press describing the country's "'Countdown to Camelot' [...] with publishers rushing into print a flood of books and magazines featuring page after page on Diana's progress from plump teenager to fashion leader." The arrival of the prince and princess was a seismic event: "Nearly 100,000 people cheered Britain's Prince and Princess of Wales as they drove in an open-air limousine through the streets of Tokyo this afternoon, a spectacle rare indeed for a nation accustomed to a more cloistered and reticent imperial family" (New York Times).

The culmination of the visit would be a banquet Diana and Charles attended with Emperor Hirohito. For this dinner, Yuki presented Diana with several eveningwear options. She eventually chose a sweeping blue gown that exhibited Yuki's trademark pleats and drape. The dress led to a "renaissance" (Watson) for the designer, and a variation on this gown is present in these sketches, as is a color study for an overcoat for the same trip. Also present are two later dress designs (dated 1987 and 1990), testifying to the ongoing relationship between this innovative designer and Diana.