Why Diana’s wardrobe was her superpower

telegraph.co.uk:

clothes were the best way of expressing her personality and emotions.Nobody – least of all the Royal Family – could have predicted the power Diana would one day wield when she arrived on the scene as a shy 19-year-old nursery school assistant, with a wardrobe of floral “accidentally see-through” skirts, sheep-patterned jumpers and yellow dungarees.At that point, the world was desperate to turn her into a fairytale princess and Diana was so young that she made this transformation easy. “Her [Elizabeth and David Emanuel] wedding gown was the ultimate example of Diana living out the dreams of millions of girls,” says the Telegraph’s fashion director, Bethan Holt. “All that tulle, and the absurdly long train were everything that comes to mind when we conjure a vision of the perfect princess.”In 1980, Diana (with engagement to Charles imminent) began working with the now late Anna Harvey, a British stylist who would later become an editorial director at Conde Nast.

Over the years, Harvey helped the princess with every aspect of her style, whether it was outfits for foreign tours and royal engagements or pieces to wear in her private life.

At first, the two women played it safe and, conveniently, the princess fantasy chimed with the New Romantic trends of the time: frothy, frilly dresses, ruffled blouses and diaphanous skirts. “There was this veneer of idyllic femininity in all her outfits,” says Holt. “Of course we now know that those clothes were a mask for the trouble behind closed doors rather than a way of communicating what was happening and how she really felt.”It was only in March 1983, when Charles and Diana went on their infamous tour of Australia, that Harvey helped Diana show a bolder side.