DIANA THE STYLE QUEEN

FROM HIGH END FASHION TO CASUAL COOL, HOW SHE ALWAYS GOT IT RIGHT

Her love of fashion and unique sense of style turned her into the most photographed woman in the world, hello!’ s favourite cover girl and an icon whose influence lives on 24 years after her death.

For Diana, Princess of Wales, clothes were so much more than just something to wear. Her eclectic wardrobe was a fundamental part of her identity and often reflected her mood – or acted as a distraction from what was going on in her life.

Diana loved to express herself through fashion, which was the perfect medium for her to channel her vibrant and complex personality.

THE SEMIOTICS OF STYLE

“In a way, Diana spoke through her clothes,” says Elizabeth Emanuel, who co- designed Diana’s ivory silk taffeta wedding dress, along with its 25ft train. “That’s how you could work out how she felt and how she got her message across and it was a really important element of her personality. She really developed her own very strong sense of style and used it as a vocabulary, a language really.” Today, Diana continues to inspire a new generation, with her signature 1980s style making a comeback among today’s fashion-loving youth. As Jacques Azagury, one of her favourite dress designers, put it: “I believe Diana would still be a fashion trailblazer and if anything, there would be even more interest in what she wears. Perhaps she would have given younger women a run for their money.”

Here, to mark her 60th birthday, we revisit some of Diana’s most iconic looks.

‘Diana spoke through her clothes. It’s how she got her message across’

Catherine Walker made this beaded gown and bolero. The French-born designer said later: “She shone in the dress and the dress shone around her in a shimmering column of glistening pearls”

Another Catherine Walker design, this wool suit with gold military-style braiding, frogging and epaulettes was royally suited to its 1987 outing to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst