The Crown Season 4 Princess Diana Fashion: Fact or Fiction
#10: The Yellow Overalls
Top 10 Facts The Crown Season 4 Got Right & Wrong
Before becoming a world-renowned fashionista, Diana’s outfits were not what one might consider chic. The yellow overalls look Diana wears during a pivotal conversation between her and Prince Charles during the Badminton Horse Trials, is inspired by an outfit she often wore in the summer of 1981. Emma Corrin, who plays the Princess, called her early outfits “awful” but also said that it was important to remind audiences that Diana was just an inexperienced young girl who was thrown in the deep end. It’s not unusual for our fashion style to develop as we mature, and we certainly get a sense of that here.
#9: The Tux Dress
Top 10 Things The Crown Season 5 Got Factually Right & Wrong
Princess Di wore this stunning backless bottle-green dress during her photoshoot with Mario Testino in 1992, the same year she and her husband separated. While the dress was designed as Royal dinnerware, its purpose in the final episode is starkly different. Wearing black in the Royal family is a huge faux-pas unless it’s while mourning and yet, Diana poses for a Christmas family-photo in a gorgeous black dress that would be considered risqué anyway by Royal standards. Costume designer Amy Roberts describes this move as “a moment when she starts putting on armor” and fighting for survival in the Royal family.
#8: The Pink Gingham Pants & Hot Pink Sweater
Top 10 Things The Crown Season 6 Left Out
In 1986 Princess Diana was photographed wearing this outfit outside Highgrove House, the home she shared with Prince Charles and their two sons. In episode three, we see Diana roller-skating through Buckingham Palace in a very similar ensemble. While Diana’s look showed her confidence through her bold color choices, “The Crown’s” designer seemed to opt for lighter tones, perhaps to indicate her youthfulness and inexperience. Roller-skating through the halls of Buckingham Palace, Corrin’s Diana wears similar checkered pants and a magenta sweater. In both instances, we’re reminded that it’s Diana’s earthiness, and relatable off-duty clothing-choices, that helped cement her reputation as “The People’s Princess”.
#7: The Catherine Walker Gown
The Crown Season 6: Side by Side Comparisons of the Cast VS Real-Life Royals
Catherine Walker was the Princess’s go-to designer and is actually behind several of the outfit inspirations on this list. If you look at Diana’s strapless chiffon dress and matching scarf from the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, you might spot where it’s been alluded to in episode nine. As the Prince and Princess of Wales enter the Royal Opera House to mark the occasion of Charles’ birthday, the cut and material of Diana’s dress is almost identical, although the pattern is drastically different. We see a young and shy Diana dress to impress as she starts to find her feet under the spotlight.
#6: Diana’s Sweater Collection
Despite having worn some of the most glamorous outfits imaginable, Diana’s off-duty sweater collection garnered a reputation of its own. The show sourced material through vintage shops, antique fairs, and costume hire houses to pay homage to Diana’s fashion staple. Two sweaters, in particular, that they replicate to a tee are the bold pink number with the llama motifs and the incredibly recognizable and still hugely popular black sheep sweater, with which she was completely besotted. If anyone was going to be able to take casual knitwear and turn it into a worldwide talking point, it could only be Princess Di.
#5: The Stunning Embroidered Gown in New York
Top 10 Things to Remember Before The Crown Season 6
Diana’s solo trip to New York in 1989 was her opportunity to show that she was so much more than “a clothes horse” as the American media had branded her. It was a monumental visit, but as she attends the Royal Gala at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, she proves that fashion-sense and compassion are not mutually exclusive. Roberts decided to replicate this white, floor length embroidered gown and matching stole from her iconic trip. This look juxtaposes the glitz and glamor of the fairytale princess with the reality of the “unhappy, scared and lonely” young woman who’s wearing it.
#4: The Australia & New Zealand Tour
Side by Side Comparisons of The Crown Season 5 Cast VS Real-Life Royals
Using 17 different costumes, the episode explores a time in Diana’s life where she’s restrained by protocol but starting to find her own sense of fashion. During this trip she also discovers how loved she is outside of the Royal family and her confidence begins to show. The show pays tribute to Diana’s wardrobe while on tour with incredible accuracy, whether she’s climbing Uluru, visiting the Sydney Opera House or meeting the Australian Prime Minister. Even her outfit while on a casual family picnic is instantly recognizable. While she was out stealing countless hearts, her outfits continued to steal the spotlight.
#3: The Blue/Silver Silk Dress
10 Reasons the Royal Family is Worried About The Crown Season 5
Among those 17 costumes, there is one gown in particular that marks an important moment for the princess and her fictional counterpart. As she dances with Prince Charles in Sydney, her blue and silver dress is emblematic of the happy fairytale that everyone believed they were living. In “The Crown” this moment marks genuine happiness and two people who seem utterly in love. While normally her bold outfits mask her true feelings, in this moment, however brief it might have lasted, Diana is living the fairytale that all the outsiders thought was real.
#2: Her Engagement Dress
The Crown Season 5: Everything We Know So Far
Ahead of their engagement announcement in 1981, Lady Diana visited the high-end Bellville Sassoon in a last minute rush for the perfect outfit. Supposedly, the shop assistant didn’t recognize her and suggested she go somewhere more budget-friendly. She ended up finding the now instantly recognizable outfit off the rack at the world famous Harrods. It’s such a well-documented moment that it only makes sense that “The Crown” would replicate it. Her choice blue skirt-suit and neck-tie were considered powerful statements in the ‘80s. Maybe this was indicative of the force Diana would become, even if she hadn’t realized it yet. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Tartan Long Jacket Diana Did Wear A Similar Overcoat, Though, During Her Trip to France in 1988 Her One Shoulder Dress While She Did Wear a Similar Cut, the Design Was Totally Different Her Spring Vest & Skirt Combo We Can Totally See Where They Got the Inspiration Her Burgundy Sweater With White Shirt & Ribbon This Look For The Newly Engaged Diana Is Spot-On
#1: Her Iconic Wedding Dress
Top 10 Facts The Crown Season 3 Got Right & Wrong
While Diana’s wedding rehearsal dress is impressively accurate, the designers had no intention of creating an exact copy of her iconic wedding dress. 750 million people around their world watched the wedding, so some accuracy was required but ultimately they wanted to evoke the memories of the first time the dress was revealed. They consulted with David Emmanuel, one of the original dress’ designers and even had the son of the actual lace maker recreate those elements too. As we watch Emma Corrin walk away from the camera in that dress and veil, we could almost believe it’s 1981 and we’re actually watching Princess Di.
