Dressing Diana

With all the hoopla regarding Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, I thought it only fair to have, yet again, a stroll down memory lane and look back to Diana, her style, her beauty and her essence.This book analyzes Diana's style from her early years as a Royal Princess who was trying very hard to "fit in", to the confident woman of the nineties until her untimely death. Photographer Tim Graham, who over the years photographed the Waleses both in private and in public (publishing a book by that name as well), and Fashion Editor Tamsin Blanchard, offer a lavish book with full colour photographs of many of the most important outfits the Princess wore.The volume shows how when Diana started her life in the royal family, she was shy and insecure, and her fashion choices deeply reflected her personality at that time. There were lots of romantic, flowery dresses, quite a few of them by designers Bellville Sassoon and milliner John Boyd (one of the Queen's favorites). The hats often had feathers and looked awkward on her head.As her marriage crumbled and her figure improved, Diana went for the "Dynasty Di" look of the mid and late eighties on the hand of names such as the exquisite Victor Edelstein, who created the unforgettable navy blue velvet gown first worn to the White House to dance with John Travolta; and Bruce Oldfield, who created a stunning lamé number for her. Lots of colour, big hair and royal blue eyeliner, which naturally brought out her eyes, were the trademarks of this time.After her divorce Diana grew more and more confident. She was now her own person, living life the way she had always wanted privately, and focusing totally and with a unique force and interest into her charity work. Her wardrobe was that of a professional working woman, with smart suits and shorter hemlines for daytime and glamorous gowns for the galas she was attending at night. Her hair was sleek and she adopted a chic and minimalist approach.The book includes special references to details and accessories the princess used, as well as her love for jewellery and how she adapted many of her pieces for cleverly customized looks. Towards the end, some of Diana's most endearing designers are interview and photographed in their own ateliers, with a special spread on Catherine Walker, Diana's backbone designer of all time, now sadly deceased.But beyond all the wonderful clothes, which suited her perfectly and made her look stunning, Diana was most loved and will always be missed by her very own nature. Milliner Philip Somerville summarizes that je ne sais quoi of the Princess, that made her so beloved the world over, very simply and succinctly when he states "she glowed warmth" (page 204). And that was, undoubtedly, Diana's most endearing quality.

Beautiful book. Looked like brand new. Fashion conscious grand will love it for Christmas!

I really enjoyed learning about Diana and how her taste in clothes evolved and improved. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how she had clothes re-worked and how many times she wore the same outfit - or an outfit without a portion of the outfit (i.e. the Elvis dress - without the jacket), and dresses, etc. reworked to update or change the look of it - making it new again. The impression I believe the public was left with was that she never wore anything more than once which was not true. She learned well and knew what she needed to fulfill what task she would wear the outfit to. She was adept at working her wardrobe around where she would be traveling to..... no one missed the attention she made to detail and loved her for it..... she will always be well remembered by the publich who loved and still love her.

I LOVED this book for it's beautiful color fashion photos of the Princess Diana. In particular, I really enjoyed that there were many head to toe photos of many of her most famous outfits. There was also was a nice section on her hat makers as well as Jimmy Choo and some of the shoes he made for her. This book has many photos showing her shoes which is something I really enjoy seeing as part of her outfit. She was very coordinated with her shoes and her hats which was pointed out in this book. It also had many nice close-ups of the materials used in her outfits, which brought out details that I had never seen before, in some smaller pictures in other books. Overall, if you enjoyed the fashions of Princess Diana, I think that you are going to LOVE this book. To me it is a "must have".

I developed a love of Princess Diana and her sense of fashion as a teenager. And now as an adult, I love having such a large collection of photos that remind me of how graceful and elegantly dressed she always presented herself.