How would Princess Diana have dressed?: The late Princess Diana’s wardrobe has been immortalized in books, exhibitions, Netflix series, tribute photo shoots in Vogue, and even a musical. From her fairytale wedding gown to the so-called “revenge dress” she wore after the now King Charles III admitted to infidelity, the world witnessed her style transformation into the “People’s Princess.”
Her style was very much her own,” said Jack L. Carlson, whose label Rowing Blazers launched a Diana-inspired clothing line in 2020. “She was not a follower. On the contrary, he did his own thing and we all watched in wonder and tried to keep up.
There’s still a lot of nostalgia about Princess Diana’s style — in fact, when Carlson’s label re-released her iconic Black Sheep sweater, it sold “three months’ worth of sweaters in an hour and a half” after it went viral online. Gave it, he said.
But how might Diana have dressed were she alive today? And how might she have employed her penchant for tactful, symbolic, and communicative fashion in this divisive age?
As we approach what would have been her birthday on July 1, let’s reflect on the inspirations that influenced her fashion sense and ponder how they could have impacted her present-day style.pacted her present-day style.
Fashion influence
The Princess of Wales was adept at using her wardrobe in a diplomatic way. Whether it was choosing designers from the countries she was visiting, or wearing colors and symbols associated with the national identity of the hosts, she used clothing as a sign of support and respect.
As Diana’s former stylist, Anna Harvey, recalled in British Vogue in 1997, shortly after the princess’s death: “From the beginning, she used clothes for gestures; on her first visit to Wales she wore a Welsh green and red silk suit; for her arrival in Japan she wore (Japanese designer Yuki Torimaru) and for her visit to Paris, Chanel.
During a visit to the Gulf region in 1986, she wore a dress adorned with a gold eagle, one of Saudi Arabia’s patriotic symbols. During her royal tour of Japan that same year, she wore a red and white polka-dot dress that seemed to reference the national flag.
Diana also nods to the royal institution she married – such as when milliner Stephen Jones sewed feathers for the Prince of Wales into the traditional Tam-Oceander hat worn at Scotland’s annual Bremner Gathering.
Matthew Storey, curator of the 2021 Kensington Palace exhibition “Royal Style in the Making,” said by email that members of the royal family typically wear “outfits that pay homage to the culture of the country they are visiting.” But Princess Diana continued to do so in the years following her separation from Charles in the early 1990s (for example, opting to wear the traditional shalwar kameez on a visit to Pakistan in 1996), and it seems likely that she This thoughtful approach would have to be continued. Her work wardrobe.
In addition to paying tribute to host countries, Princess Diana also used fashion to highlight charities and institutions she admired by wearing their clothes to polo matches or public events. “Even then she was light years ahead of us,” Carlson said, pointing to the current trend of using merchandise to support organizations people identify with.
If anything, she taught us all to appreciate merch: from universities you’ve never attended, sports teams from other people’s hometowns, and even airlines you’ve never flown,” he said, referencing the times Diana paired a Northwestern University or Virgin Atlantic sweater with cycle shorts.
It’s impossible to say which causes Diana would have attached herself to today. But given her lifelong advocacy of HIV/AIDS awareness, the various capsule collections released for World AIDS Day by brands from Maison Margiela to Victoria Beckham’s eponymous label may well have caught her attention.
