By Giulia Piceni. Cover image: Margaret Mitchem for I’M Firenze Digest.
None like her. This is the reason why Princess Diana best fashion moments continues to be a huge inspo. Her looks revolutionised the rules of royal protocol and inspired entire generations. Princess Diana in The Crown 6, the release of the latest and conclusive season, offers the opportunity to refresh her iconic style. Let’s look at why her wardrobe still enchants us.
The sixth season will be the last one of the blockbuster series that has accompanied us over all of these years. The director, Peter Morgan, has stated that he won’t depict events beyond Prince William and Kate Middleton’s meeting at university.
The final drop will be split into two parts, with the first one focusing on Diana’s last days and death and the second one exploring the lives of William, Camilla, and Charles.
While fans eagerly await the release on Netflix, here is a 5-point style guide dedicated to the forever missed Princess Diana, who will make her final appearance on the screen through Elizabeth Debicki’s portrayal.
1. In Princess Diana’s best fashion moments list there is her wedding dress – the bigger the better
The wedding day is a big event in everyone’s life, but for Princess Diana, it marked the beginning of the end. On July 29, 1981, the entire world witnessed the royal wedding between Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.
The ceremony was a legendary event watched by 750 million people on live TV, and the wedding dress, designed by Elizabeth & David Emanuel, embodied the dream of girls all over the world. Made of ivory taffeta and ancient lace and featuring a more than seven-metre-long tail, it was a veritable record-breaker. Diana’s dress had balloon sleeves, ribbons, sequins and pearls and set a typical 80s trend of “the bigger, the better”.
For an entire decade – and sometimes still today – brides all over the world imitated the meringue-like style of Diana’s gown on their special day.
2. The collar and the mysterious double C: will we notice them in The Crown 6?
Lady Diana had to endure manipulative behaviour during the years she spent with the now King Charles, which is highlighted by two elements starting with the letter C. The first is the collar. This element, recently popularised again among the younger crowds by Miu Miu’s innocent-looking style, was a feature of Diana’s style during the early stages of her relationship with the throne heir.
The collar symbolised her obedience, passivity, and youth (there was a 13-year age gap between the two). Those were all features that her husband wanted to highlight to diminish her, but the princess soon showed her worth.
The second element is the gifting of Chanel pieces by Charles to his wife Diana, whom he constantly cheated on with his lover Camilla Parker Bowles. As we all know, the logo of the Parisian fashion house consists of two Cs, which continuously reminded Charles of him and his beloved duchess. After wearing plenty of garments from the famous tweed fashion house – and eventually setting a real trend – Diana realised the true meaning of those gifts and stopped wearing them altogether. No more Chanel for her. Will Princess Diana best fashion moments in The Crown 6 will include them as well?
3. Princess Diana best fashion moments goes from LBD to LBRD (Little Black Revenge Dress)
Was it necessary to point out this iconic moment that everybody knows? No. Did I mention it anyway because Diana was a complete icon for dressing up like that? YES.
During the lowest point of her marriage, she was humiliated on TV by her husband Charles, who admitted to having an affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. However, Diana decided to take control of her life and show the Royal Family that she was indeed valuable.
Her fashion move of wearing a little black dress at the 1994 Vanity Fair fundraising dinner was extremely liberating. With that LBRD – little black revenge dress – she wasn’t trying to win her husband back but was more about asserting her self-worth as a woman.
The dress symbolised that she had regained control of her life, and that meaning has survived to this day, making it a staple item in every woman’s wardrobe.
4. Princess Diana addiction to hoodies and bike shorts: normalising normcore in and out The Crown 6
Right after her divorce from Charles in 1995, Diana was finally free from the Court’s dress code, which allowed her to explore a more personal style.
Before the TikTok trend of normcore and the 2010s streetwear, Diana had already found the codes for a perfect everyday outfit for running errands: bike shorts and oversized hoodies were her go-to look! On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death in 2017, Off-White designer Virgil Abloh paid tribute to the princess with a spring-summer 2018 collection called Natural Woman. Abloh created a non-didactic synthesis of Diana’s style that keeps her essence alive: from polka dots on pink and light blue to sporty spandex shorts.
5. If Versace stands for liberation, than one of Princess Diana choose for the best
After her divorce and her troubled relationship with Chanel due to Charles’s inappropriate gifts, Diana started to embrace a more mature and feminine style of dressing. She abandoned the strict wardrobe code she had been expected to follow and embraced her sensuality. During those years, Gianni Versace was a highly sought-after designer, and Princess Diana shone brighter than ever before in his creations. One of her most memorable looks was the white Versace dress Diana wore at a concert in Italy in 1995. The dress featured two small medusas at the intersection of its thick straps and wide neckline, making it a fashion must-have for many women at the time, as well as a fascinating item for vintage fashion enthusiasts today.
