Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

World

Diana: fashionista who shook up the royal dress code

-

Princess Diana revolutionised the royal dress code with the help of some of the world's greatest designers during a glamorous life that came to a tragic end 20 years ago on Thursday.

"Diana has become a fashion icon in the same way as Jackie Kennedy or Audrey Hepburn -- timeless, elegant, and still so relevant," said Eleri Lynn, curator of "Diana: Her Fashion Story", an exhibition at her Kensington Palace home in London.

Diana breached royal protocol by wearing black  a colour worn formally by royal women only during mo...
Diana breached royal protocol by wearing black, a colour worn formally by royal women only during mourning
PAUL VICENTE, AFP/File

Nicknamed "Shy Di" ahead of her 1981 marriage to Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, Diana came out of her shell and realised how her clothes could be used as a powerful communication tool.

"The princess learned to make her wardrobe say what she could not, and worked closely with designers like Catherine Walker to curate her personality through clothes," Sophie Goodwin, fashion director of Tatler magazine, told The New York Times newspaper in February.

Diana mastered the art of wearing the right dress for the right occasion.

She wore bright clothes when visiting hospices, in order to appear warm and accessible.

On foreign visits, she would chose clothes inspired by the national colours, such as the white dress with red spots she wore on the trip to Japan in 1986.

Diana helped to modernise the royal wardrobe
Diana helped to modernise the royal wardrobe
PATRICK RIVIERE, AFP/File

She chose not to wear gloves "because she liked to make contact with the people she was meeting", said Lynn.

Pictures of the princess shaking hands with AIDS patients in 1987 helped to break down myths surrounding the disease, including the unfounded fear of being able to catch it through touching sufferers.

The most photographed woman of the age, Diana understood the rules of royal dressing but was not afraid of twisting them.

Pictures of the princess shaking hands with AIDS patients in 1987 helped to break down myths surroun...
Pictures of the princess shaking hands with AIDS patients in 1987 helped to break down myths surrounding the disease
, AFP/File

She breached royal protocol by wearing a black ballgown, a colour worn formally by royal women only during mourning.

Her outfits included androgynous gear, such as a tuxedo and a bow tie.

"That's quite the bold, fun look that you don't necessarily expect of a princess," said Lynn.

She said Diana was the first woman in the royal family to wear trousers to an evening event.

- Daring outfits -

Diana's look was widely copied
Diana's look was widely copied
claude Coirault, AFP/File

She also helped to modernise the royal wardrobe, with outfits that made a lasting impression.

The midnight blue Victor Edelstein velvet evening gown she wore for a dinner at the White House in 1985 is one of her most famous.

It was in this dress that the princess danced with US actor John Travolta, to the hit "You Should Be Dancing" from the film "Saturday Night Fever" in which he starred.

Nicknamed the Travolta dress, it even has its own Wikipedia page and sold for £240,000 ($318,000, 268,000 euros) at auction in 2013.

On foreign visits  Diana would chose clothes inspired by the national colours  such as the white dre...
On foreign visits, Diana would chose clothes inspired by the national colours, such as the white dress with red spots she wore on the trip to Japan in 1986
-, JIJI PRESS/AFP/File

After her divorce from Charles in 1996, Diana switched up her style once again, abandoning the British designers she had relied upon in favour of international fashion houses such as Dior, Lacroix or Chanel.

Diana ditched the frills, taffeta and giant ball gowns and adopted more daring outfits, like the figure-hugging sky blue Jacques Azagury dress that went as far above the knee as the designer felt he could go at the time with a princess.

"For so many years, the princess of Wales was the world's one and only fashion obsession, and the forerunner of modern glamour as we know it. She had to make it all up for herself," wrote Sarah Mower in the Daily Mail newspaper.

Some of Diana's gowns went on display at an exhibition entitled
Some of Diana's gowns went on display at an exhibition entitled "Diana: Her Fashion Story", at her Kensington Palace home in London
Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS, AFP/File

Diana's look was widely copied and still inspires catwalks and designers to this day.

The online clothing site ASOS launched a Diana-inspired collection in October 2016, playing on her off-duty look.

Her style even has a presence in the social media age.

Diana wore similar attire to her host  Jemima Khan  during a visit to Pakistan in 1996
Diana wore similar attire to her host, Jemima Khan, during a visit to Pakistan in 1996
SAEED KHAN, AFP/File

An Instagram account called Princess Diana Forever, which has over 170,000 followers, posts a daily picture of her in various outfits, bringing her to a new generation.

Princess Diana revolutionised the royal dress code with the help of some of the world’s greatest designers during a glamorous life that came to a tragic end 20 years ago on Thursday.

“Diana has become a fashion icon in the same way as Jackie Kennedy or Audrey Hepburn — timeless, elegant, and still so relevant,” said Eleri Lynn, curator of “Diana: Her Fashion Story”, an exhibition at her Kensington Palace home in London.

Diana breached royal protocol by wearing black  a colour worn formally by royal women only during mo...

Diana breached royal protocol by wearing black, a colour worn formally by royal women only during mourning
PAUL VICENTE, AFP/File

Nicknamed “Shy Di” ahead of her 1981 marriage to Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, Diana came out of her shell and realised how her clothes could be used as a powerful communication tool.

“The princess learned to make her wardrobe say what she could not, and worked closely with designers like Catherine Walker to curate her personality through clothes,” Sophie Goodwin, fashion director of Tatler magazine, told The New York Times newspaper in February.

Diana mastered the art of wearing the right dress for the right occasion.

She wore bright clothes when visiting hospices, in order to appear warm and accessible.

On foreign visits, she would chose clothes inspired by the national colours, such as the white dress with red spots she wore on the trip to Japan in 1986.

Diana helped to modernise the royal wardrobe

Diana helped to modernise the royal wardrobe
PATRICK RIVIERE, AFP/File

She chose not to wear gloves “because she liked to make contact with the people she was meeting”, said Lynn.

Pictures of the princess shaking hands with AIDS patients in 1987 helped to break down myths surrounding the disease, including the unfounded fear of being able to catch it through touching sufferers.

The most photographed woman of the age, Diana understood the rules of royal dressing but was not afraid of twisting them.

Pictures of the princess shaking hands with AIDS patients in 1987 helped to break down myths surroun...

Pictures of the princess shaking hands with AIDS patients in 1987 helped to break down myths surrounding the disease
, AFP/File

She breached royal protocol by wearing a black ballgown, a colour worn formally by royal women only during mourning.

Her outfits included androgynous gear, such as a tuxedo and a bow tie.

“That’s quite the bold, fun look that you don’t necessarily expect of a princess,” said Lynn.

She said Diana was the first woman in the royal family to wear trousers to an evening event.

– Daring outfits –

Diana's look was widely copied

Diana's look was widely copied
claude Coirault, AFP/File

She also helped to modernise the royal wardrobe, with outfits that made a lasting impression.

The midnight blue Victor Edelstein velvet evening gown she wore for a dinner at the White House in 1985 is one of her most famous.

It was in this dress that the princess danced with US actor John Travolta, to the hit “You Should Be Dancing” from the film “Saturday Night Fever” in which he starred.

Nicknamed the Travolta dress, it even has its own Wikipedia page and sold for £240,000 ($318,000, 268,000 euros) at auction in 2013.

On foreign visits  Diana would chose clothes inspired by the national colours  such as the white dre...

On foreign visits, Diana would chose clothes inspired by the national colours, such as the white dress with red spots she wore on the trip to Japan in 1986
-, JIJI PRESS/AFP/File

After her divorce from Charles in 1996, Diana switched up her style once again, abandoning the British designers she had relied upon in favour of international fashion houses such as Dior, Lacroix or Chanel.

Diana ditched the frills, taffeta and giant ball gowns and adopted more daring outfits, like the figure-hugging sky blue Jacques Azagury dress that went as far above the knee as the designer felt he could go at the time with a princess.

“For so many years, the princess of Wales was the world’s one and only fashion obsession, and the forerunner of modern glamour as we know it. She had to make it all up for herself,” wrote Sarah Mower in the Daily Mail newspaper.

Some of Diana's gowns went on display at an exhibition entitled

Some of Diana's gowns went on display at an exhibition entitled “Diana: Her Fashion Story”, at her Kensington Palace home in London
Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS, AFP/File

Diana’s look was widely copied and still inspires catwalks and designers to this day.

The online clothing site ASOS launched a Diana-inspired collection in October 2016, playing on her off-duty look.

Her style even has a presence in the social media age.

Diana wore similar attire to her host  Jemima Khan  during a visit to Pakistan in 1996

Diana wore similar attire to her host, Jemima Khan, during a visit to Pakistan in 1996
SAEED KHAN, AFP/File

An Instagram account called Princess Diana Forever, which has over 170,000 followers, posts a daily picture of her in various outfits, bringing her to a new generation.

AFP
Written By

With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.

You may also like:

World

Calling for urgent action is the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Business

The cathedral is on track to reopen on December 8 - Copyright AFP Ludovic MARINParis’s Notre-Dame Cathedral, ravaged by fire in 2019, is on...

Business

Saudi Aramco President & CEO Amin Nasser speaks during the CERAWeek oil summit in Houston, Texas - Copyright AFP Mark FelixPointing to the still...

Business

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal infers that some workers might be falling out of the job market altogether.