Royal style & gossip: make every day Tiara Tuesday!

[QueenOfTheAndals]

Previous thread

And I shouldn't have to say this anymore but will do so for any newbies - let's keep our critiquing to the clothes and not the women wearing them.

She’s carrying a bigger hat! Just wear that hat! If I was avoiding the paps I’d wear a balaclava :) ok it looks silly but they can’t prove it’s you :)

Why do you think she's carrying a hat while wearing one?!?

Hiding some nice pressies! I wonder what she got..

I can’t find those pics of MM

In the meantime, here are some more photos. What I found interesting is that the early Catherine Walker clothes were amateurishly made, especially the pink dress in the 1980s. The detail and the stitching seemed very naive and rather homemade. It was later in the 1990s that you really saw the professional finish. I’m not sure if this will come across well in the photos, but take a look and see what you think.

And the 1990s one

Ah yes, found the MM photos. I think the flat cap belongs to the bodyguard

Meghan in NY DM
Must have given her a boost.
I had my first baby in a different country and was so desperate for those trips home.
Unfortunately she’s not going to be able to make new mummy friends at NCT in the usual way. But hopefully she’ll get to make a new friendship group in th UK once she’s had the baby.

@rhubarbis evil
I thought that about the Catherine Walker clothes too.

Those dresses are on loan! I suppose someone has to own them - how did they ever get into private hands though? Were they auctioned for charity?

A few more from the Diana exhib while we await new royal engagements.

Her engagement photo blouse and a couple of later hopefully familiar dresses

Her dresses were auctioned but I can't remember if it was before or after her death.

Wow!! It’s so cool to see ones you recognise! I remember as a kid seeing photos of the pearl one and thinking she was the most beautiful person. Did it say if she was ever interested in designing, or if she’d designed any of her clothes?

They were auctioned off at the time of her divorce. William suggested it, apparently.

Notmyrealname it was amazing and a bit strange to see these really famous dresses.

I’m not sure whether she ever designed any - I do seem to remember notes on some of the sketches to change the details - eg different sleeves - but can’t remember if these were Diana’s or the designers, or whether I’ve just imagined them! Queen or Curly who’ve been more recently might remember better than me.

I’ve said this on a previous thread, but my favourite thing about the whole exhibition was a note about some crush marks around the top of the legs on a velvet evening dress.

They’re not sure what caused them but they suspect that they are little finger marks from where William and Harry were cuddling her legs before she went out for the evening.

I adore the word sethakrican!

Genuine question, not taking the piss: How do you know if a pushchair is comfortable? Obv there are some that you can see are shite, the child is sitting in a cramped and daft position, but most seem kind of the same?

Unpopular opinion (high time for a firebrand): I don't understand the love for Diana as a great beauty or style icon. I think she was a very handsome woman (and had gorgeous skin, am very envious of that), but she wasn't what I would call beautiful. I'd even hesitate to call her pretty, but that is just semantics - I think of pretty as a bit too junior a word, almost a bit infantilizing and cutesy, and I just wouldn't spontaneously apply it to her. I think a lot of her qualities must have come off better in person? I don't look at her photos and think she seems esp nice, warm, lovely, a striking personality who commanded the room (not more than anyone else who has a genuine smile in photos, I mean).

I would agree that she seemed to find her style a bit better as she grew older. I also agree that she did try a few edgier things even while still married to PC, but IMO it was never quite right, she never 100 % pulled it off. I'm not British, but I've honestly never come across anyone who has said that Diana is their style icon and who they try to emulate when dressing. I'm trying to think past the fact that the 80s could be tricky, but there were women in the 80s who got it more right IMO.

Change of subject (no comparisons intended between the two women): Elle has an article about Queen Silvias style over the years. www.elle.se/sa-har-drottning-silvias-stil-forandrats-genom-aren/ Just scroll down past the Swedish text for pictures. I loved the atttached photo of her and baby Victoria!

Ah @banivani it's you who gave us the low down on the Swedish royals on an earlier thread isn't it? I was racking my brains trying to figure out which poster that was as someone asked on a previous thread. Lovely photos of Queen Silvia - Sofia really does resemble her a lot, more so than her own daughters!

It must be moving to see Diana's iconic clothes. I am the same age as she would be now and the older I get the more I realise how tragically short her life was.

I think Diana was one of those women who weren't conventionally pretty or beautiful but just had an air of something about them that transcended that. When you look at footage of her meeting people etc there's almost a glow about her. She outshone Charles by far and I'm not sure he liked that. I suspect William would take after his father in that aspect, which could be why Kate plays it so safe and lets him do most of the talking in their interviews.

banivani

Actually it’s easy to see if a pushchair is comfortable. The cheaper ones have narrow and short seats, where as the more expensive ones have deeper wider seats. Also more padding. Better wheels so not so much jarring as you push them. Better harness systems which you can adjust the height of. Also have extending leg bits. Look at a £50 pushchair and a £250 one and it’s obvious.

From what I've heard (first-hand), Diana made people think that they were the only person in the room that she was interested in talking to.

What I always think about the Royal Family is that they give people a boost - whether you like/agree with the concept or not, the majority of Royals make people smile whenever they visit their town/place of work etc.

Re. William/Charles liking the limelight. I think Charles clearly expects it, having been brought up as the 'favoured one', and it obviously caused huge issues with Diana. I really don't see that with William and Kate - probably as a result of Diana's mothering skills in his formative years.

I think Diana's best style years were before and after her marriage. Make of that what you will.

I still like that very early photo at the nursery where they tricked her into standing in the sunlight (the British press at their finest). But you knew the game was up when she turned up for the engagement photos trussed up in that blue suit. After that I thought she looked a bugger a lot of the time, but I agree she started to find her feet again after the divorce.

I never thought of her as beautiful until I saw those those Mario Testino photographs. Then again I never saw her in real life.

Mario Testino really knows how to enhance a person's beauty. Photographic magic.

MM nicked Amal Clooney’s newsboy cap

dobby hm I see what you mean, I think in my mind I just had that down as good (quality) and bad I don’t think I necessarily translated it to comfort but you’re absolutely right.

queen yup that’s me! I dip in and out because the gossip isn’t generally as interesting to me and I suffer from the lack of pictures since I’m not as with it as you lot 😉 but I keep checking the threads!

I never saw Diana in real life but I know someone who did and he said she was breathtakingly beautiful. I do think she appealed more to men than women. I always thought she dressed far to old for her age. She was only Meghan’s age when she passed away and had a 15 year old son.