In those looks, layers of meaning
Iconic style was no accident — and not always subtle
Did Princess Diana anticipate becoming a #styleicon? By all accounts, she would have hated the negative-feedback loops of Instagram and Twitter. But she certainly knew the power of clothing for personal branding, long before the Kardashians made a fortune from it. And her meticulous use of fashion for messaging helps explain the enduring fascination with her style 20 years after her death.
“A central issue has to be her ability to communicate in personal terms across mass media,” says Jude Davies, a professor of American literature and culture at the University of Winchester in England and author of Diana,
A Cultural History.
The intensely personal messages coded in her clothing, particularly in tandem with her charitable work, set her apart from the Angelina Jolies and Madonnas of today, Davies says. “Crucial to this was a sense of not only her own feelings but her own vulnerability,” he says.
While she was still Her Royal Highness, she famously ditched the customary gloves favored by Queen Elizabeth II — a strategic move that allowed skin-on-skin contact with the masses she met at hospitals and homeless shelters. That included people with AIDS at a time when patients were often treated like lepers.
“That a fascinating young royal person would do this made much more of a difference than a lot of well-intentioned propagandists,” says British author Peter York.
Her work for land mine removal further let her ditch the princess persona and literally and symbolically roll up her sleeves.
“My favorite image of her, apart from the Mario Testino portraits, is her walking through a minefield in jeans and a white T-shirt. That was so brave,” says Meredith Etherington-Smith, former creative director of Christie’s International.
As Diana grew into her public role, she was no wilting British rose. She “began increasingly to find her own best friends in fashion land and entertainment land,” York says. “And she became this international type.”
But the personal messaging inherent in her clothing could be calculated. On the day Prince Charles was to confess in an interview to having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, now the Duchess of Cornwall, Diana showed up to the annual Serpentine Gallery summer party in a short, figure-hugging Christina Stambolian dress that became known as the “Revenge Dress.”
“It was quite deliberate,” says Etherington-Smith. “She was very good at obliterating the press. Princess Diana, she was out for the hero shot.”