With the Royal Wedding coming up, there's no better time to talk about the style icons that are the Royal Family.
Chances are, when you think about clothes and the royal family, you think: rules. There are no miniskirts, barely any bare legs, and anything that could cause a wardrobe malfunction is an absolute no-no. One has to be prim, proper, and perfectly at home in the aisles of M&S. You might be surprised to hear, then, that over the years dressing like a royal has involved more than a flirtation with rebellion. And it wasn’t just Diana making the shocking fashion choices, either.
Princess Di is, however, a good person to start with. Who could forget that figure-hugging, cleavage-baring LBD she wore to the Serpentine Gallery's summer party in 1994 - complete with pearl choker and pearl drop earrings? What made that look even more iconic was that she wore it on the same day that a documentary was released in which Prince Charles admitted that he’d been unfaithful, meaning that she was the one with the front-page spot on the newsstands the next morning - not him. Burn.
And this irreverence was nothing new. In 1984, she pushed against the tide of tradition by wearing a black-and-white tuxedo to a charity concert, and again in ‘86 when she donned a flamenco-style dress with mismatched red and black gloves.
Regal risk taking, however, wasn’t unique to Diana. Back in the 50s and 60s, Princess Margaret (Queenie’s sister) raised a few eyebrows of her own. With her cinched waistlines, fit-and-flare silhouettes and sweetheart necklines, Princess M was dripping in movie star glamour. In cateye sunglasses and with a Golightly-esque cigarette holder often in hand, Margaret merged the worlds of polite royalty and red-hot hollywood. Elly Summers, curator for a recent exhibition on royal fashion, agrees. She told The Telegraph: "She was very fashionable, very glamorous, and unlike her mother Queen Elizabeth and indeed her grandmother Queen Mary, who almost exclusively wore British, Margaret was a great patron of Dior, which really shows that cutting edge of fashion and couture that she was interested in."
After all, who could resist lusting over the Dior dress she wore on her 21st birthday, with its applique bodice and dramatic tulle skirt? It really puts those pictures of us on our 21st’s - you know, the ones taken in sweaty nightclubs with our bra-straps halfway down our shoulders - into a sadder, why-was-I-not-born-a-royal light.
Being at the cutting edge of fashion isn’t only reserved for past princesses, either. While Kate Middleton may be known for her demure wrap dresses, she’s certainly appeared in some slightly more adventurous ensembles. Take the Gucci tweed dress she wore to open the new entrance of the V&A, for example, with its red trim and statement gold buttons. Or what about that crystal encrusted pink gown she wore to a charity dinner in 2011? That particular dress sold out almost immediately after she wore it - one of the many instances of ‘the Kate Effect’ (a phrase which has its own Wikipedia page, by the way).
Meanwhile, Meghan Markle's already making waves in her chic, forward-looking wardrobe choices. Take that caped, navy Stella McCartney dress she wore to the Queen’s birthday party - the perfect marriage of quiet elegance and Insta-worthy innovation. That Instagram-readiness reared its head again in April, when she paired a pinstripe, belted dress with a nautical blazer - thrown, I might add, casually over the shoulders. Lovely.
Unsurprisingly, she’s followed in Kate’s footsteps by causing clothes to shoot off the shelves, with one (arguably fairly simple) black dress selling out less than ten hours after she wore it. Some are calling it the ‘Meghan effect’ - personally, I prefer the ‘Meghan mandate’.
And, of course, we can’t round up the ruling classes without giving the Queen herself a shoutout. Impossible to be missed, she’s appeared in blocks of nearly every colour of the rainbow (maybe she read our piece about wearing the rainbow?) since the 1950s. They’ve got louder and more vivid over the years - apparently to let people know that it’s not just a very popular older lady who’s attracting a crowd, it’s the mothertrucking Queen.
So, dowdy and dull the royal ladies are not. Forget modest hemlines and neutral palettes, it’s all about blingy bodices and revenge dresses. On that note, here are three rules to bear in mind if you want to inject some royal realness into your own wardrobe...
1.To look regal, you must look chic
Even when you’re trying to be an edgelord (or lady), you must look gloriously stylish. If you spilled ketchup down your chest on the way out the door, it’s game over.
2. To look regal, you must turn heads
Whether that’s because of colour, capes or pearl chokers, make sure that all eyes or on you when you enter the room. Referring to yourself as ‘oneself’ is optional.
3. To look regal, you must not wear shorts
Unless you’re Prince George, it just isn’t done.
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Follow: @royalreplikate
This fashionista doesn’t just post appreciation photos of what the royal family are wearing - she also replicates the looks herself. Follow for some guidance on how to look like a princess without the budget to match.
Watch: The Crown
Even if you’ve avoided getting hooked on it thus far, you’ll have heard your friends bang on about how good it is at least a million times. Still, this series is worth the hype - both for the drama and for those costumes.
Go see: the Royal Women exhibition at The Fashion Museum in Bath
This glorious exhibition features Princess Alexandra’s wedding dress, as well as a number of lust-worthy numbers from Princess Margaret’s heyday. Oh, the glamour!
