20 years after her death, Diana’s fashions epitome of regal elegance
20 years after death, royal icon’s clothes the byword for lavish extravagance of ‘80s
LONDON — Tiaras and sequined ball gowns, ruffled bows and shoulder pads — and who can forget that fairytale wedding dress, a fluffy taffeta confection spilling its huge train down the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral?
From frilly frocks to power suits, much of what Princess Diana wore has become the byword for the lavish extravagance of the ’80s. Her style evolved through the years, but for many she embodies what classic “princess style” looks like. Two decades after she died in a 1997 Paris car crash, Diana’s clothes are still making headlines: An exhibition of her dresses at London’s Kensington Palace this year drew long waiting lines on its opening day.
“She was so stylish, she was really brave with the clothes she wore,” said Anne Campion from Dublin, one of those attending the exhibition.
“You look at her clothes now and they’re so classic … I think her clothes and her style, you could wear them today.”
A look at some of Diana’s most memorable fashion moments:
Wedding dress of the century
Diana’s 1981 wedding to Prince Charles was watched by hundreds of millions around the world, and she couldn’t have worn a more sumptuous dress for the occasion. The silk taffeta gown with 7.6-metre train by David and Elizabeth Emanuel featured romantic billowing sleeves, bows, lace and 10,000 mother-of-pearl sequins.
Honeymoon tweed
For a honeymoon photo in Scotland in 1981, Charles wore his kilt while Diana chose a brown tweed woollen dress suit by designer Bill Pashley, a nod to the royal family’s traditional country wear.
Sharp tuxedo
In 1984, Diana surprised her fans when she ditched pretty dresses and sported a white dinner jacket, black trousers and a black bow tie for a charity concert by the band Genesis.
Dynasty Di
Many of Diana’s looks featured oversized shoulder pads — the de rigueur accessory of the day, in the style of the American soap opera Dynasty. In 1985 the princess dazzled with a dramatic silver-pleated Bruce Oldfield gown, complete with huge shoulders and a cut-out back.
Blue velvet at the White House
The off-shoulder, ink blue velvet gown that Diana wore at a 1985 White House state dinner, where she was famously photographed dancing with John Travolta, remains one of her best-known outfits. The dress sold for a whopping 240,000 pounds ($311,000) at auction in 2013.
The Elvis dress
Diana turned to a slimmer, more tailored silhouette toward the late 1980s. For an official visit to Hong Kong in 1989, Catherine Walker, one of Diana’s favourite designers, created a white silk strapless dress encrusted with pearls and sequins, with a matching bolero jacket. The outfit was dubbed the “Elvis dress” because it reminded many of Elvis Presley.
The revenge dress
One of Diana’s most talked-about outfits had to be the figure-hugging, low-cut little black dress the princess wore to a Serpentine Gallery party in 1994. The press dubbed it her “revenge dress,” because it was the same night Charles admitted on television that he was having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. Greek fashion designer Christina Stambolian reportedly said Diana initially thought the dress “too daring” and only opted for it at the last minute.
Charity casual
In the 1990s Diana often appeared in power suits and more casual outfits for her charity work. For trips to Angola and Bosnia, she chose khaki or black capri trousers and simple shirts with rolled-up sleeves to show that she wanted the focus to be on her work rather than her fashion.
Sleek confidence
Diana’s outfits increasingly exuded confidence in the mid1990s, with the princess choosing more pared-down, lower cut and shorter styles. In June 1997, on one of her last public engagements, she visited the Royal Albert Hall for a Swan Lake performance dressed in a low-cut iceblue pencil mini dress by French designer Jacques Azagury.
Diana, Princess of Wales, who died 20 years ago today, is gracing magazine covers as a style icon again.
There is a new novel, Imagining Diana, that speculates what her life might have looked like if she had survived the car accident that killed her. And there are the many new documentaries about the princess, including one in which her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, speak for the first time about losing their mother.
Diana died at 36 in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997.
Her death shocked the world. In Toronto, the Princess of Wales Theatre became an impromptu shrine. At Casey House, an AIDS hospice Diana visited, people lined up for days to sign a book of condolences and the St. James Cathedral rang out half-muffled bells. In Ottawa and Vancouver, people left flowers outside the British High Commission, Rideau Hall and the British consulate.
Now, Canadians are sharing memories of the “people’s princess” again.
Royal historian Carolyn Harris says Diana — who would hug hospital patients, crouch down to children or people in wheelchairs and pick up something if someone dropped it — combined glamour and vulnerability.
“She gave the monarchy a great deal of star quality,” Harris says. “At the same time, she was fairly open about the difficulties that she faced and willing to open up to others.”
It’s why people of various backgrounds around the world identified with Diana in many ways, Harris says. “They felt like they knew her.”
Some Canadians still feel that way. Skye Morrison, a founding member of the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto, met Diana for about half an hour during the princess’s visit to Canada in 1991 — when she signed the Canadian AIDS quilt on display. Morrison recalls that Diana carried herself as if she were having a private conversation with friends.
“She was quite relaxed, not flashy,” Morrison says. “She was quiet, reserved and thoughtful.”
Among about 45 people present at the museum that day were family members and friends who had lost a loved one to AIDS. When stopping at the quilt to ask questions, Diana listened to their stories with purpose, Morrison says.
“Diana was gracious and engaged,” she says. “She looks at you in the eye.”
Diana also visited Casey House that year. She shook hands with one of the residents, a moment that was captured in an iconic photo that helped to reduce stigma and fear of those with AIDS, says Erika Epprecht, a registered nurse who has been at Casey House since it was founded in 1988.
“It had a really big impact on the residents,” she says. “There was just such a strong stigma, and then to be so recognized by a person of such global importance went a long way to educating the world that you did not have to be that afraid.”
Epprecht wasn’t scheduled to work that day, but she went in — dressed in a black suit and her best earrings — just to meet Diana, as did many of the other nurses.
She says Diana came across as “calm and caring” when she stopped by the nursing station to chat and have a photo taken with them. “She has a way of making people feel connected with her,” Epprecht says. “She did her job so well.”
When Diana entered Casey House’s reception area, which was a living room, someone had moved the chair that had been put out for her. Jane Darville, then executive director of Casey House, watched Diana sit on a radiator to talk at eye level with a resident in a wheelchair.
“She was sweet,” Darville says. “You didn’t feel like you were talking to a princess.”
Darville noted that Diana stayed longer than planned and spent time with all 13 residents.
“She asked about [the residents’] families or partners,” Darville says. “She was casual — and kind.”
It was the same at a cancer treatment centre in Sudbury, Ont., which Diana also visited in 1991, according to Audrey Oliver, a registered nurse who is now retired.
“She was interested in each [patient’s] struggle with cancer,” says Oliver. “She made the [patients] feel so special.”
Even people who had never met Diana loved her.
Robert Finch, chairman of the Monarchist League of Canada, views Diana as both a loving mother and a great, compassionate and caring person.
“She had that caring, personal touch that a lot of people look up to,” he says.
When Diana died, 19-year-old Finch lined up with his family at Hamilton City Hall to sign a book of condolences. What struck him was how quiet and sombre the crowd was.
“Nobody talked. It was an almost eerie feeling,” Finch says. “It was as if you were going through a funeral.”
What has also stayed with him is Diana’s funeral, which was watched by 2.5 billion TV viewers, particularly the scene of William and Harry walking behind their mother’s casket through the streets of London.
“Her greatest legacy perhaps is her boys — how they conduct themselves and take their roles very seriously,” he says.
At the same time, Finch believes Diana helped transform the monarchy as an institution, noting the royal family has a softer touch and more relaxed attitude these days.