There’s something about (Princess) Mary
Our royals inspire fashion trends, but they may have a muse of their own in Denmark’s crown princess, says Charlie Gowans-eglinton
Royals have always had the ability to inspire fashion trends, but it’s only in recent years that their wardrobes – made instantly shoppable by style bloggers identifying labels as they’re worn, and often featuring a high-low approach that sees princesses wearing Zara and Marks & Spencer alongside custom-made designer pieces – can be recreated with previously unthinkable precision. But while Repli-kates and Meghan obsessives take fashion tips from our British duchesses, it seems that our royals are doing a little replicating of their own. This inspiration? Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark and Countess of Monpezat, who this week also seemingly influenced the sartorial stylings of Brigitte Macron. Australia-born Mary has been a member of the Danish royal family since her marriage to Frederik, its Crown Prince, in 2004, the pair hosted the French president and his wife in Copenhagen on Tuesday – a meeting that looked set to be the perfect storm of clashing styles. While Mary, 46, has honed a personal aesthetic so elegant that it is copied the world over, Macron’s signature look – Louis Vuitton miniskirt suits and shoulder-padded power blazers that offer a very different take on French style to that effortless narrative that we’re so familiar with – could not, it was assumed, compete.
Yet, it seemed that the French first lady was taking style cues from her Danish host. First, she appeared in a coat and dress (Vuitton again, natch) in the same bright red shade as the Princess’s Raquel Diniz dress – a colour that neatly referenced the Danish flag, surely a mark of respect to her hosts.
Yes, the signature bouffant blow-dry remained somewhat at odds with the Princess’s own loose, low bun, but by that evening’s state banquet, Mme Macron had not only dropped her usual above-the-knee style for a full-length gown, to match Mary’s floor-skimming hem, but was wearing her blonde hair in – what else? – a loose, low bun.
That elegant style (which, not-so-coincidentally, has become a go-to for Meghan ever since her engagement to Prince Harry) has long been a favourite of Princess Mary’s, and one she alternates with the bouncy blow-dries that are the double of the Duchess of Cambridge’s. In fact, the resemblance between Mary and Kate, heightened by their similar wardrobes, is so striking that fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld once dubbed the pair “royal sisters”. With just 10 years between them, it’s easy to imagine that Kate looks to Mary for a steer on fashion appropriate for a future queen.
Many of Kate’s style signatures – like wearing shades of bright blue or red for evening events, smart, pastel dress coats for day and a love of lace and classic nude court shoes – were first signatures of Mary’s. Some of the similarities are particularly striking, such as the
pale silver beaded evening gowns the pair wore in January (Mary) and May (Kate) 2017. On the occasion of Prince Louis’s christening in July, the Duchess of Cambridge’s unusual cream floral headband seemed a style departure – she usually opts for hats or fascinators – but viewed side by side with the cream floral headband that Mary wore to christen her eldest son in 2006, and again to christen her twin son and daughter in 2011, the Denmark royal’s influence is clear.
Like our own Duchess of Cambridge, Crown Princess Mary’s story is something of a fairytale. Born Mary Elizabeth Donaldson to Scottish parents in Hobart, the capital of the Australian state of Tasmania, in 1972, she graduated from the University of Tasmania with a degree in commerce and law before going on to work in advertising in Melbourne and Sydney. It was in the latter, at a pub called the Slip Inn, that she first met Prince Frederik, now heir apparent to the throne. He was in Sydney for the 2000 summer Olympics, and introduced himself as Fred – it wasn’t until later in the evening that a friend revealed his identity to her. A long-distance courtship and discreet visits followed, and in December 2001 Mary moved to Copenhagen. The pair were engaged in 2003, and married the following year.
When it comes to making her fashion mark, Mary has form: she is patron of the Danish fashion industry and Copenhagen Fashion Summit, the world’s largest event on sustainability in fashion, while also ranking among the industry’s elite, having twice appeared on the cover of Vogue in her native Australia, and once for Germany Vogue. In 2010, she was named on Vanity
Fair’s international best dressed list; she’s also the subject of numerous style blogs and Instagram fan accounts, just as our British duchesses are.
“People do buy what she wears,” says Henriette Schmidt, who has blogged about her royal style for eight years at styleofmary.blogspot.com. Mary regularly appears in Danish magazines and papers in the course of royal duties. “We rarely see her mentioned without a comment about what she wore, which designer created her dress or who made her shoes,” says Schmitt.
“She’s a master of reusing old pieces over and over again, and she does have a signature style: a pair of pointed pumps, mid-length skirts and coats, classy white pearl earrings, a simple blowout as a hairstyle and natural make-up. Something most of us can copy.” Mary is careful to support local Danish labels and those from her native Australia, as well as mixing accessible pieces into her wardrobe, wearing Scandinavian highstreet brands like Ganni and H&M just as our own duchesses don M&S and LK Bennett. But Mary also has a love for high fashion that’s shared by the Duchess of Sussex. The crown princess has worn Brit Stella Mccartney, French Louis Vuitton and Chanel, and Italians Dolce & Gabbana and Prada, all of which have also been worn by Meghan. Sister-in-law Kate tends to stick to home-grown brands, so Meghan’s choice to wear French and Italian fashion houses seemed to have been inspired by a royal outside of their immediate circle. While planning her duchess-appropriate wardrobe, Meghan looked, it appears, to this Scandinavian style muse. The abstract colourblock pleated Club Monaco dress worn by Meghan to a wedding in August is almost an exact match for the Designers Remix version seen on Mary in May. And while it’s rare for a female British royal to wear trousers – Kate is occasionally seen in jeans, but otherwise sticks to dresses and skirts – Meghan has broken with convention twice this year, opting for tailored black trouser suits paired with black pointed toe stilettos. It’s an unusual outfit for a female royal – but one that Mary has also stepped out in, back in March 2017.
And it seems the crown princess’s reach really is global. Melania Trump’s futuristic pastel blue Ralph Lauren dress and jacket worn for the inauguration – arguably the most important and well-recorded outfit for a FLOTUS – seems to have referenced a lilac skirt and jacket worn by Mary some years ago.
While Jackie Onassis Kennedy, Audrey Hepburn and Princess Diana are often said to be the style inspiration behind the wardrobes of duchesses and first ladies around the world, there is no doubt that Mary’s status as a royal fashion icon has now made its mark.
‘Like our Duchess of Cambridge, Crown Princess Mary’s story has a fairytale quality’