VERSACE

Mark of friendship

FORWARD to the mid-Nineties and Diana was moving in different circles. Surrounded by fashion sophisticates including Liz Tilberis, editor of U.S. Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue photographer Mario Testino and designer Gianni Versace (whom she met through her relationship with Elton John and their work for Aids charities) Diana began to epitomise pareddown chic.

It was the beginning of a new international jet-set aesthetic that still prevails today — simple, colour-blocked clothes, worn with luxe ‘hero’ bags.

Now, her accessories didn’t have to match all of the time — in fact, they often looked cooler when they didn’t.

Her glossy Versace bags, for example, often lifted her sleek tailoring. She was carrying a black version, left, when she went to the Duomo in Milan for Gianni Versace’s memorial service. Her friend had been murdered in Miami in July 1997 — just over a month before she lost her own life in Paris.