Each Of Princess Diana’s Iconic Outfits Included The Color Red

Dec 24, 2020 by apost team

With Netflix’s The Crown gaining popularity since its fourth season dropped just last month in mid-November, people are talking about how lucky 25-year-old English actress Emma Corrin is to be cast as Princess Diana herself and to get to embody her signature style. With that, more and more people are starting to take an interest in outfits Diana had worn, be it to family outings, royal attendances, movie premieres, and so on. We at apost have done various stories about her most remarkable outfits, her style tricks, her most memorable dresses, and even all the times her daughters-in-law Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle would twin with her. But we have never written about the one color which she wore a lot and wore it so darn well. Until now, that is.

The People’s Princess, as we all know, had a way with style. It’s like she had the Midas touch when it came to putting together an outfit. She would pick out different pieces of clothing that, on paper, shouldn’t make any sense, but somehow work together to make an ensemble fit for royalty. Besides the unconventional ways that she would adorn her jewelry, how she would wear colorful eyeliner, and the loud patterns she got dressed in, another aesthetic Diana was known for was her bright, red outfits. And we can’t think of a better time than the Christmas season to check out nine of her most iconic looks where she rocked this power color. 

No one — or at least no other royal — did sweater weather better than Princess Diana. They were her go-to choice for all her mom moments with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. She would be seen in sweaters when she did school runs, when she played outdoors with the boys, and even when the family went on plane rides. One of the moments can be seen here as she did a puzzle with a three-year-old William at the playroom of their home in Kensington Palace in October 1985.

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Here she is with her then-husband Prince Charles, during a visit to Florence, Italy back in April 1985. What is most interesting here is not even that her outfit is monochromatic, but her choice for the color of her stockings. While stockings may not be en vogue for the young generation, Princess Diana shows that they don’t have to be associated with dated notions of stuffy old ladies. Part of the key to Diana’s success in making color stockings timelessly chic is that the princess would often wear colored stockings to match her dresses. She made sure that the red of her stockings here did not clash with her jacket, skirt, and shoes, all of which were in the exact same hue.

How to stand out against a thick, white blanket of snow? That’s right — dress in red. There’s a reason why fire trucks and stop signs are usually red in color. Red is a highly visible color that is very attention-grabbing. Here Princess Diana is on a skiing holiday in Malbun, Liechtenstein back in January 1985. Did you notice the person next to her dressed in yellow? Yeah, neither did we.

A month before she got married to Prince Charles, she attended the premiere of Bond film 'For Your Eyes Only' at the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square in June 1981 dressed in a sparkly, red chiffon Bellville Sassoon dress. She accessorized the look with matching ruby earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet. Actress Emma Corrin, who plays Princess Diana on Netflix’s The Crown, is seen on the fourth season of the show wearing a clone of this red and gold number.

In one of her most special mom moments, Diana was seen wearing a knee-length red coat by Jan van Velden and matching ballet flats jacket over a white shirt with red stripes, and a Peter Pan collar when she left the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s hospital with newborn Prince Harry in tow back in September 1984. 

Not only did Kate Middelton pay homage to Diana's hospital look after giving birth to Prince George, but she also did the same when she gave birth to her second son, Prince Louis when she mimicked this red ensemble.

After giving birth to her first child, Prince George, in 2013, Kate wore a baby blue dress with white polka dots by designer Jenny Packham for the couple's photoshoot outside the hospital. Many were quick to notice that Kate's sweet look resembled Diana's dress that she wore when Prince William was born.

The Princess of Wales, after getting recently divorced, was seen in a glamorous, tailored, red-beaded dress when she went to Washington to attend a gala dinner for the American Red Cross back in 1997. “She came to Washington to call for an international ban on anti-personnel landmines, a cause she has embraced with great passion. The other 400 guests at the American Red Cross gala last night came to look at Diana,” the Washington Post wrote. If that is not testament enough to her beauty, we don’t know what could be.

In 1989, Princess Diana looked like she was acting in a romance movie as she stepped out of a Rolls Royce for a banquet hosted by then-ruler of the United Arab Emirates at Claridges Hotel in London. It was all red all around with this gown by Bruce Oldfield, her red shoes, and the red carpet. She topped the outfit off with the Spencer Tiara, a piece from her own family’s collection. It was the same tiara she wore for her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981. The tiara, which was made by Garrard in the 1930s, was worn by Diana on subsequent special occasions and most recently worn by her niece, Celia McCorquodale, for her wedding earlier this year.

When you want the reds of your outfit to stand out more, learn from the royal fashionista and contrast it with the color black. Here Princess Diana was back in February 1990 during a visit to Tunbridge Wells in Kent, UK. No red stockings this time, but instead a pair of black ones to allow the red in her shoes to stand out. She paired her red jacket with a black skirt and a black clutch.

She stood out once again when she attended a gala in aid of one of the London City Ballet, of which she is a patron, back in 1990. In a sea of black and white tuxedos and more muted colors, Princess Diana’s off-shoulder red maxi dress was bound to command the spotlight at the event. Not to mention the way she towered over pretty much everybody else.

Which of these is your favorite red Diana outfit? Give us your rankings of these outfits in the comments, and tell us if you think this was the color that best suited The People’s Princess. Spread the Christmas spirit by dressing in red and get your loved ones to join in, too!