A drag star hailing Diana as a punk rocker? What baloney!
Kristen stewart, the U.s. actress who plays Diana in the ludicrous biopic spencer, believes the spirit of the princess hovered over her during filming.
‘there were times,’ she told the La times, ‘where i was like, “Oh, God,” almost like she was, you know, trying to break through. it was weird. and amazing.’
everyone can channel Diana now and claim her for their own, as the ultimate imaginary friend. Blogger eloise Moran, for instance, explained on Diana: Queen Of Style (C4), how she worships the princess as the Patron saint of Betrayed women.
Going through a distressing break-up, eloise started posting photos of Diana on social media, with an instagram account called @LadyDirevengeLooks. she
began adding barbed captions: ‘i was speaking to my own ex through Princess Diana.’
now she has a book deal, with the Lady Di Look Book: what Diana was trying to tell Us through Her Clothes, due out next year. in case we can’t wait, this frothy documentary explained it all for us. From the lacy collars to the humorous knitwear and the plunging necklines, it seems every outfit had a message.
‘throughout her rollercoaster of a life, her clothes spoke of her emotions, her attitude and her activism,’ claimed nicola Coughlan’s voiceover. writer Banseka Kayembe declared Di was an icon for black women, because ‘she was an outsider, she didn’t quite fit in’.
the show got progressively more silly. By the time a drag star and model called Bimini hailed Di as a punk rocker and a ‘cheeky lady’, no reference was too ridiculous.
apparently, there would have been no Kim Kardashian and no Beyonce without Diana, who was even praised as an inspiration for Black Lives Matter.
One recurring theme was that Di invented social media. Bimini called her ‘the original influencer’. Former fashion editor Justine Picardie imagined the princess would be able to bypass the paparazzi today, by publishing selfies and portraits on instagram.
Underneath all this nonsense, an interesting idea was buried. with 1980s couture so much in vogue, Diana’s dress sense is being reinvented by designers. the popularity of the Crown has made her an icon all over again.
the programme opened with a stroll down Bond street, with clothes in every window echoing her style, from polka dots to swooping low-cut gowns.
the most telling example was a red woolly jumper, decorated with fluffy white sheep — and a single black one. Diana bought that at a stall in Covent Garden and wore it twice: once for fun before her wedding and once, with emphasis, as the first cracks appeared in her marriage.
it’s easy to believe she really was sending a message that time.
Kate Humble’s knitwear is telling us to get muddy in the back garden and save the planet, on Good Life, Green Life (C5). she planted saplings: ‘trees are magnificent and they’re kind of miraculous,’ she said, and went hunting for great crested newts in her pond.
then she built a pergola from willow stems on the lawn. ‘i was never a child with a wendy House,’ she said happily. ‘i was more of a shed girl.’
Kate’s shows, filmed on her farm in the wye Valley by her husband Ludo, are always pleasant and always variations on the same themes. as ever, gin featured — with a stroll along the hedgerows to forage for herbs to flavour her alcoholic cordials.
straining nettles and elderflowers, she announced: ‘i like gin, quite a lot of it.’ Chin-chin!