marieclaire.com.au 73GEMMA LEVINE/CAMERA PRESS/AUSTRALSCOPE; SNOWDON/TRUNKARCHIVE.COM/SNAPPER MEDIA; GETTY IMAGES
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Odit omnitate sametur,
temqui ut excescidus sitemA STYLE EVOLUTION
1 A 19-year-old ingenue in her
engagement portrait, wearing
a now-iconic Emanuel blouse.
2 Staying true to her British roots
in Hunter gumboots. 3 On July
29, 1981, the world watched Diana
marry Prince Charles. She wore
an ivory silk taffeta and antique
lace gown by the Emanuels, which
took three months to make.4 In pink gingham
for a 1986 portrait.
5 The princess
won over Australian
hearts on her 1983
royal tour, pictured
at Uluru in a waisted
white frock.S
he was the awkward beauty who became
a global fashion forerunner. Her style
evolved over time, beginning with the
chaste pale pink blouse by David and
Elizabeth Emanuel that she wore in her
official engagement portrait. By the time
she wore Victor Edelstein’s glamorous midnight-blue
dress to dance with John Travolta in 1985, Diana’s
taste had become far more sophisticated, ushering in
an era of big gowns and shoulder pads. It morphed
again post-divorce, with Gianni Versace becoming
her go-to for sleek column dresses and pastel suits.
While she didn’t always get it right, Diana’s style
continues to fascinate. Alexa Chung revived the
princess’s pie-crust blouses for her Marks & Spencer
collection last year, while the oversized sweatshirts
she wore post-gym in the ’90s resonate with today’s
Vetements-loving cool kids. Everyone has their
favourite Diana look. We asked three people who
prepared her for the world stage to pick theirs.BRUCE OLDFIELD
DESIGNER
Diana first came to my show-
room in 1981. She had
travelled down from
Balmoral, where she was on
honeymoon, and was so
charming. She was barely
20 and I was only 31, so we
got on well and started work-
ing together. She went to an
enormous number of events and the
press would “critique” everything she
wore. I always wanted to keep it simple.
She didn’t enjoy fashion at first, but
I think she learnt how to make clothes
work for her. They were not only an
accessory, but also a serious part of her
ammunition. She began to appreciate
the power of a great frock, so when
I made her a couple of backless dresses,
it was a revelation. It worked because
she had that “everyman” kind of per-
sonality that people adored: you felt you
could reach out and touch her. She felt
accessible in an era when aristocratsFROM LADY TO PRINCESS
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