Paul Costelloe, fashion designer for Princess Diana, dies at 80

In addition to creating evening wear for the late princess, he established a fashion house that celebrated luxurious fabrics and creative design.

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Paul Costelloe, the Irish-American designer who dressed the late Princess Diana and became a stalwart of the London fashion scene, has died, his company confirmed. He was 80.

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In addition to creating evening wear for Diana, Costelloe established a fashion house that celebrated luxurious fabrics and creative design. He worked in central London and with a family-owned manufacturing site in the Ancona region of central Italy.

“We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Paul Costelloe following a short illness,” his label said in a statement on Saturday. “He was surrounded by his wife and seven children and passed peacefully in London.”

Born in Dublin in 1945, Costelloe was the son of a tailor who made raincoats at a factory in the city’s Rathmines district. He got his own start in the industry at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture fashion school in Paris, but company lore suggests he learned as much by soaking up the era of designers Emanuel Ungaro and Pierre Cardin as he did in the classroom.