Eugenie’s STYLE EVOLUTION

With less than two weeks to go until her wedding, PRINCESS EUGENIE’s fashion faux pas are well and truly a thing of the past. Liz Jones charts her regal reinvention

It’s like something out of Hans Christian Andersen. You know the song: ‘There once was an ugly duckling, feathers all stubby and brown…’ Because, my goodness, has Princess Eugenie turned into a swan.

We still have to wait for the big reveal on her wedding day, but we can already see how well she’s scrubbed up in a recent issue of Vogue: why did we never notice that mouth before? In pillar-box red lipstick, her face reminds me of a member of Monaco’s House of Grimaldi, not Windsor. And her choice of clothes from the rails offered on the shoot: Erdem, an edgy Richard Quinn foil cape and florals by Valentino. This gal knows her labels.

The transformation into a soignée swan at the grand old age of 28 is not just because Kate and Meghan have upped the style stakes. As Eugenie says, ‘Growing up in the media, it’s… interesting. We’ve had serious grounding from our parents. They’ve had their fair share of media interest, and it makes us stronger.’

Eugenie and elder sister Beatrice, 30, have always loved dressing up, much like their mum Sarah, Duchess of York, but didn’t take fashion too seriously. They were their mother’s daughters: all puff sleeves and origami hats. Being ninth and eighth in line to the throne and with only a few official duties (Eugenie works for art gallery Hauser & Wirth), they had assumed, well, why would anyone care what we wear? We’re jolly Sloanes! Problem is, people like us do care. And it was after the ridicule of their outfits at Kate and William’s wedding in 2011 that the sisters hired stylist Charlie Anderson. She was a good choice: she had dressed Harry Potter star Emma Watson who, just like Eugenie, is petite and looks best when styled in a slightly retro fashion.

The metamorphosis, though, hasn’t happened overnight: Eugenie has experimented with print and colour, and she has learnt how to make the most of her figure by channelling a 40s and 50s feel in her tailoring. And it’s worked! My reviews of her outfits have just got better and better…

In 2011, at cousin Zara Phillips’s wedding, I reported in the Daily Mail that she was still in ‘frumpy two-pieces’, which ‘cut her in two, while the bustle on her rear does her no favours. The skirt is too short, showing way too much thigh.’

William and Kate’s wedding the same year was also famously a stylistic nadir: ‘Tweedledum and Tweedledee, aka Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, provided the cabaret. Eugenie wore a blue Vivienne Westwood pouffy dress with a too-busy bodice; both, for a change, hid their knees. The hat meant anyone seated behind her missed the whole thing.’

Ouch! But just in time for the Queen’s Jubilee in 2012, Eugenie had started to tone it down a tad. Says Stephen Jones, who made her hat that day: ‘They love their grandmother, so they wanted to be well turned out for her. It wasn’t about them.’

For Pippa Middleton’s wedding in 2017, I wrote her a rave review again: ‘Princess Eugenie wore a navy princess-line dress that was sober, but showed off her milky shoulders.’ Gone was the bulky fabric, the creases, the crazy hat… and in its place was something restrained and, yes, sexy.

But what really completed the incredible transformation was the outfit she wore to

THEN: APRIL 2011i At William and Kate’s wedding, Eugenie hits a low. The neckline of this Vivienne Westwood suit makes her top-heavy, the bows add bulk, while the roadkill Philip Treacy hat is more Easter bonnet contest than royal do. NOW: JUNE 2018i Bursting with confidence at this year’s Serpentine Summer Party, Eugenie knows she has great shoulders and she shows them off in a Roland Mouret asymmetric dress, worn ‘very now’ over skinny black trousers. Gone is her apologetic posture – here stands a princess in her prime.

PRINCESS PEEK-A-BOOi This is a label she loves: London brand Eponine. The princess line, the keyhole glimpses of flesh…perfect. She’s more shoe literate, too: spiky heels have replaced the middle-aged courts.

PURPLE BUT PATCHYi A less comedy effort for Granny’s diamond jubilee, and the Stephen Jones hat is spot on. But the cowl neck is all wrong for her bust and the Suzannah dress hideously creased.

FAR TOO BLUEi No, no and thrice no. This petrol blue outfit, worn to a society wedding, is way too tight: more reality TV star than princess. It all screams, ‘I’m sick of being scrutinised!’

AN ASCOT WINNERi For Royal Ascot, she wore a Roksanda prom dress that makes the most of her figure. The peter pan collar is fresh and young and, boy, does she have great arms.