Sunplaza

Even though Princess Diana of Wales was a style icon and fashion innovator in the twentieth century (and still inspires the world with her most iconic looks), this does not mean that all her outfits were successful. She also made mistakes.

Especially during the period when she experimented to find her own style or when she blindly trusted designers. The key mistakes include wrong cuts and colors (light or dark), too colorful prints, and excessive decor.

To know which Lady Di’s outfits, in our opinion, were strange and definitely not successful, read on.

1. Polka-dot dress

In May 1986, Prince Charles of Wales (now King Charles III of Great Britain) and his chosen one Diana visited Nijo Castle in Kyoto, Japan. The princess wore a white polka-dot dress, a red brimmed hat, and bright red shoes. Obviously, it was an attempt at a fashionable reference to the Japanese flag. However, Lady Di did not take into account one thing… Such a print does not look royal (rather infantile), visually making the figure look bigger. In addition, the puffed sleeves, despite their popularity at the time, “distorted” the proportions of the figure.

2. Oversized checkered coat

In May 1985, the Prince and Princess of Wales arrived to Venice, Italy, on an official visit. For this occasion, Lady Di chose an extravagant look: a wide-brimmed hat, an oversized checkered coat, white tights and a tank top, a pearl necklace and earrings, and green shoes. The Princess did a good job with the color palette (green and white harmoniously complement each other). However, the same cannot be said about the coat’s silhouette and the size of the hat: she overdid with both a bit. As a result, the clothes hid the waist and visually made the shoulders very wide, while the hat “distorted” the proportions between the head and the body. A very strange ensemble.

3. Purple maxi dress

At the end of October 1987, the Princess of Wales arrived at the Birthright charity event in an overly dramatic look that was quite against her gentle personality. She wore a purple velvet dress with a puffed collar and a low waist that visually shortened her neck and legs. She completed the look with massive jewelry: diamond earrings and a huge cross with pearls, diamonds and amethysts. Conservative and outdated.

4. Striped suit

In June 1987, Princess Diana attended the Royal Ascot horse race wearing a striped suit by Roland Klein (pleated skirt and elongated oversized jacket). She also wore a hat decorated with a blue ribbon, kitten heels, a choker, and pearl earrings. This look could have been called perfect if Lady Di had replaced the bottom part with a white monochrome skirt. However, she chose an item with horizontal stripes, which visually broadened the hips and looked messy in combination with the vertical lines of the jacket.

5. Blue dress with a low waist

Princess Diana loved to wear outfits decorated with ruffles. And while small and thin waves really make the item interesting, massive ones only spoiled the looks. For example, in November 1982, the wife of Prince Charles wore a bright blue one-shoulder dress with a low waist and large ruffles for the Birthright charity fashion show in London, UK. She styled her look with pearl jewelry, silver shoes and a clutch, as well as white tights. This choice can hardly be called successful, as the tights made the legs look pale, the cut did not emphasize the princess’s fragile figure, and the print in the form of circles further “deformed” the silhouette. The noble blue color saved the situation at least a little: it was in perfect harmony with Diana’s skin tone and hair color.