If, like many others, you’ve become a fan of The Crown, then you’ll be very familiar with Lady Diana’s infamous style: eyeliner, earrings, and of course, sweaters. In the previous season, Emma Corin had the mission to embody Lady Diana to be accepted by the royal family – in ballet dresses, sweaters with sheepskin, and Barbour jackets. Elizabeth Debicki had the role of showing how the princess moved away from the “Firm”, and her clothes are a direct representation of her feelings.
Now at Kensington Palace, far from those who scrutinize her every step, Lady Diana has no limits in fashion. She tosses the pearl earrings and makes room for modern hoops. She now wears Levi’s. “There was something very personal about it,” says Sidonie Roberts, associate costume designer at The Crown, “she was really showing who she was, because she was dealing with it herself. She loved it.”
Lady Diana’s style often included pairing high-waisted jeans and fluid, comfortable pleased skirts with oversized cricket sweaters, varsity sweaters, or sweatshirts emblazoned with charity logos that she supported. While logo sweaters are popular today, using clothes to get a message across wasn’t as popular back then, especially among the royals. Even now, it’s unlikely you’ll ever see Kate Middleton in a T-shirt or sweater that supports her political or personal beliefs. The princess communicated her emotions through her outfits, from the famous sweatshirts to the colors of the British Lung Foundation to the one with the Virgin Atlantic airline logo, a possible metaphor for her desire to escape.
“Diana was mysterious, seductive, but at the same time very accessible [in the sense that anyone could replicate her style].” According to Sidonie Roberts, this was a key feature to Lady Diana’s style.
Behind the fashion-forward façade was a woman who wore those relaxed silhouettes and covering sweaters as way for physical protection. Years later, Princess Diana finally had the confidence to wear Versace tank dresses and sport shirts tucked into tight jeans. The oversized sweaters let her slowly come out of her shell, to become, as Roberts says, “less palaciated” and to reconnect with the real Diana: a mother, fashion icon, activist, and advocate of individual liberty.
