Lady Di's style: from candor to revenge

• Michiko from Japan, the empress who was silenced by the fake news and the tight girdles of her kimono

• The queen who has herring or kidneys for breakfast and drinks a sherry or a gin and tonic every day

Beautiful, vulnerable and yet brave, she became a global icon, changing the way royals were seen and leaving a mark of style so persistent that, 25 years after her death, it still lingers like the luminous tail of a prodigious meteor.

Where her in-laws affirmed her uniqueness by wearing outfits that blurred her vision, she fueled the fiction that

Diana admitted that when,

she married Prince Charles, her wardrobe consisted of "a long dress, a silk shirt, a pair of elegant shoes and little else".

Nothing foreshadowed her future distinction.

Naturally, according to his own confession, weeks before the royal wedding, he rushed to buy everything.

They were the first bars of a metamorphosis whose final emergence turned her into

as a revenge for her destiny that she threatened to make her queen of an empire and condemned her to star in a Greek tragedy.

legendary designers

Through her looks, she sees the evolution of a style from ruffles to polka dots, from red carpet dream classics to off-duty dresses (including the now-iconic pink Converse) and her empowered

that he cultivated after the breakdown of his marriage.

Her clothing biography is illustrated with the inspiration of legendary designers such as

although it includes other more exclusive ones, such as Bruce Oldfield, Catherine Walker, Christina Stambolian or the Emanuel atelier, which designed her unforgettable wedding dress.

Lady Di and Prince Charles on their wedding day, July 29, 1981. Gtres

His photo album shows not only his good taste, but also -'ça va sans dire'- that

a very logical thing, since they were born from the desire to change.

Obviousness that not all Windsors share.

Like that actor from the Palais Royal that Proust talks about, who when asked where he was going to look for those surprising hats, he answered: "I'm not going to look for my hats anywhere. What I do is not throw any of them away".

subliminal statements

'The legend of Di: A Celebration of the Fashion of Lady Diana Spencer'

(edited by Hardie Grant Book) is the latest book on Lady Di as a fashion icon.

Written by Dan Jones, it reviews the milestones of her style.

The founding momentum of that trajectory was Wednesday, July 29, 1981.

That day, as the bride stepped out of her carriage, more than 700 million spectators watched in awe as bridesmaids Sarah Armstrong-Jones and India Hicks helped unfurl a magnificent eight-meter-long train and designer

smoothed out the fabulous over the top dress that he had created with his wife Elizabeth.

own touches

Following that fairytale appearance on the steps of St. Paul's, Diana cultivated a wardrobe that honored protocol but still reflected her personal penchant for

She was emerging from adolescence and had not yet established a personal style.

She made mistakes that were amplified under the spotlight of the tabloids and, later, the Internet.

It didn't take long for her to unfold a transformation from demure and shy young lady to the wife of a future king.

Over the years, the power of her dressing room to make subliminal statements—well, okay, some not-so-subtle ones—and convey her mood through different phases of her life sparked

Your benchmarks

A list of her favorite brands reads like a who's who of the leading luminaries in the British fashion industry at the time:

(today a recurring fixture in the Duchess of Cambridge's wardrobe),

Dior handbags, Chanel suits, Versace evening gowns and

entered her wardrobe as she became the most photographed woman in the world, traveling everywhere and making headlines with every flare. .

Over time, Diana's off-duty wardrobe became as influential as her preference for elegant shift dresses and pearl chokers, photographed leaving the gym or taking her children to school.

Now, all of that is Instagram fodder for a new batch of fans who replicate

Fairytale princess

Despite her unintentional transgressions of Windsor etiquette,

and women all over the world made their way to parties in strapless taffeta dresses, with full skirts very much in the style of the moment.

In November 1981, just four months after their marriage, the new wife of the Prince of Wales opened an exhibition at London's V&A museum on the day

with her first child.

Her ethereal white and hyacinth blue chiffon off-the-shoulder gown by Bellville Sassoon sealed her ultimate status as a fairytale princess.

The beginnings

The first years of her marriage were discreet outfits, such as the suit jacket that she wore in her engagement announcement.

Throughout that decade, her svelte frame was the perfect perch for a dazzling array of evening gowns created by artists such as Victor Edelstein, Murray Arbeid, Bruce Oldfield, and Catherine Walker.

The

neo-romantic inspiration became two of her hallmarks.

John Travolta and Lady Di dancing at the White House in 1985. Gtres

Dancing with John Travolta at the White House in 1985,

in a column of midnight blue velvet draped over her shoulders and finished with a swirling fishtail hem, she confirmed her position on best-dressed lists.

So it was adapted to fashion

As her confidence grew and her style received critical acclaim, Diana carried with aplomb

that would be laughable on mere mortals.

She managed to make the sequins look fancy when on others they looked like a drag queen costume.

Miraculously, she traversed the atrocities of 1980s fashion (shoulder pads and flashy colors) with rare finesse.

With its long neck and short hair, the off-the-shoulder neckline was both seductive and regal.

She was a woman of her time, but - with the help of

she has withstood the passing of the years perched on a pedestal, as a fashion force that was never wrong with Jimmy Choo, a Gina dress or a Catherine Walker (responsible for hundreds of creations for the princess throughout her life), to wear with balanced sophistication.

the dress of revenge

One of the best looks of the Princess of Wales.Gtres

On the night in 1994 that Prince Charles admitted his extramarital affair with Camilla Parker Bowles in a television interview, Diana wore a daring, off-the-shoulder Christina Stambolian cocktail dress to the Serpentine Gallery.

The sexy look, which highlighted her cleavage and lithe legs outlined in the gym, became known as the 'revenge dress' and was the perfect illustration of her ability to use clothing to communicate more than just her love of color and the cloth

She had overcome her metamorphosis from would-be modern queen and inaugurated her

Just as Michelangelo spent eight months in the mountains of Carrara to choose the most beautiful blocks of marble for his statues, Lady Di chose the best styles at the service of projecting her crystal soul.

After her separation and subsequent divorce, freed from the tightness of the tourniquet that strangled her spontaneity, she appeared with renewed poise and displayed an

that would define her later years.

She turned to Jacques Azagury, Versace, Dior and her friend Catherine Walker to create a series of form-

and daring hemlines that enhanced her sylph-like figure and reflected her status as Duchess de Guermantes and prima donna of reclaimed time.

Although retaining a majestic dignity as mother of the future king.

pure charm

The light gray beaded halterneck cocktail dress she wore to a gallery opening in 1995 was possibly

She seemed to be at her best.

Catherine Walker's midnight blue crepe dress that she wore to a 1995 dinner in New York was particularly memorable, with its spaghetti straps and wet hairstyle.

At the Met Ball in 1996, she wore a

The princess in a dress by John Galliano for Dior.Gtres

Yes, elegant pastel suits and casual clothing sealed Diana's place as a member of the modern working royalty, but her legacy as a public figure, one that left lasting style, was due, above all, to her

and to the charisma that she injected into each one of her impressive dresses, which dressed her pure charm, like that of a fountain that still springs in the memory.

Non omnis moriar, wrote the poet Horace.

'The people's princess' is not quite dead.

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