It has already starred in the sixth and final series of The Crown. But there’s nothing definitive about Princess Diana’s post-divorce fashion style – it’s here to stay, writes ALICE HARE

The Crown is back for its sixth and final series. And with it an avalanche of interest Princess Diana‘s wardrobe. Season six begins in the summer of 1997 – Diana’s last, fateful summer.

Gone are the pie crust collars and Laura Ashley flowers from series four.

Now, The Crown costume designers Amy Roberts and Sidonie Roberts (no relation) are leaning into the princess’s post-divorce power wardrobe.

And they nail it. Each. Single. Time.

Read on to discover the once small brands whose stories transformed Diana and are experiencing a revival more than 25 years after her death – all thanks to The Crown.

Sloppy Joe sweatshirts

The brand was founded in 1993 by fashion buyer and designer Jackie Harris and was immortalized when Diana was photographed several times in the ’90s leaving her beloved Chelsea Harbor Club in their sweatshirts.

In response to the renewed interest in Diana’s style, partly driven by The Crown, the brand reintroduced the quarter-zip design worn by the Princess in April 2022, to resounding success (£76.95, sloppyjoe.co.uk).

Their classic crewneck (£70.95, sloppyjoe.co.uk) comes in a range of shades completely bespoke to the brand, including the blue shade favored by Diana which has now been rebranded as ‘ Diana blue’.

How do you wear it? The key is to counter the Sloppy Joe’s sloppiness with huge sunglasses, an equally oversized designer bag (a Ferragamo will do the trick, à la Diana) and an even bigger sapphire and diamond engagement ring. Wet.

Hot and wonderful

That sheepskin sweater was born in 1979 and first sold through a market stall in Covent Garden by brand co-founders Joanna Muir and Sally Osborne.

Now the V&A has one in their permanent collection. A whole 360. A major contribution to this success? Diana wore the sheepskin sweater in 1981 and 1983, followed shortly after by Andy Warhol and David Bowie.

In 2020, Jack Carlson, the American designer and owner of cult brand Rowing Blazers, relaunched the sheepskin sweater in collaboration with Muir and Osborne, making it available for purchase for the first time in twenty-five years. In a smart move in terms of timing, the fourth season of The Crown aired in November 2020, starring Emma Corrin as a young Diana wearing said sheepskin sweater.

Demand increased explosively. Warm & Wonderful was then re-established as a standalone brand with Carlson as creative director. But the happiness didn’t stop there.

Diana actually had two Warm & Wonderful shearling sweaters – one she wore in 1981, the other in 1983. She tore a hole in the cuff of her original sweater, and the palace sent it to Warm & Wonderful asking for it to be repaired could be replaced or replaced.

They replaced it – hence the black sheep is in a different position in Diana’s 1983 version. In March, Osborne rediscovered Diana’s original 1981 version while cleaning out her attic.

It sold at Sotheby’s New York in September for $1.14 million. From market stall to millions, this is the stuff of a fashion fairytale.

Gottex

“The swimsuit is the new ball gown in this series,” says The Crown costume designer Sidonie Roberts. Particularly memorable is a scene in which Diana trades with paparazzi while on Dodi’s yacht in the south of France, telling them that they will let them photograph her in her leopard print swimsuit if they agree to give her, William and Harry the rest of to leave the day alone. day.

Whether this exchange exactly took place or not (it is known that Diana traded with photographers in this way), those images of Diana in the leopard print swimsuit in the summer of 1997 were splashed in newspapers around the world.

Diana’s was from Israeli brand Gottex, and the brand made a replica of the costume especially for Elizabeth Debicki to wear in series 6 of The Crown. And now they’ve reissued the swimsuit on their website for the masses (£155, gottexswim.com).

The brand was founded in 1956 by Lea Gottlieb, who designed for the brand until 1998. Gottlieb’s journey is undoubtedly the most rags-to-riches story of all the small brands whose fortunes Diana turned around.

Gottlieb was raised in poverty by an aunt in her native Hungary and was Jewish. Her husband was shipped to a forced labor camp during World War II, while she and her two daughters spent the war in hiding.

Miraculously, they all survived. She and her husband founded a raincoat factory after the war; It was this expertise that she used to create premium swimwear when she founded Gottex.

Her idea was to create swimwear that wouldn’t just be worn at the pool, something seen in The Crown – we see Debicki wearing swimwear tucked into shorts and sarongs.

In 1984, Gottex was the largest exporter of swimwear to the US with a fan base that included Queen Sofia of Spain, Elizabeth Taylor, Brooke Shields and Nancy Kissinger. Relief. Oh, and someone named Princess Di.

Souleaido

Before her days with trophy bags (hello, the bamboo-handled confections from Lady Diors and Gucci that Di favored in the ’90s), there was another.

A more modest younger cousin of the trophy bags, if you will. In true Sloane Ranger style, Diana picked up the cousin on Fulham Road – at a shop called Souleaido, to be precise.

The French company specialized in quilted flower bags made in Provence. Diana bought six of their bags, including a rose-print bag that she wore repeatedly in the early ’80s.

Di’s ‘Printemps’ bag is still on sale on their website for £156. A bargain when a Lady Dior would cost £5,300.

Philadelphia Eagles

It is known that Diana craved normality. And her casual uniform from the late ’80s and ’90s reflects this desire.

The jeans and baseball caps, the trips to Disneyland with William and Harry, picking up her boys from Wetherby… all this was an attempt to ‘play’ with the normality of a woman whose life was the total, polar, complete opposite . from normal.

In 1991, Diana was photographed on the school pickup truck wearing a Philadelphia Eagles baseball jacket.

She wore it again on the cover of People magazine in 1994. This was a seemingly normal jacket with a less than normal story behind it. Diana met Philadelphia Eagles statistician Jack Edelstein at Grace Kelly’s funeral in 1982 – Kelly was born in Philadelphia.

The pair started talking and the conversation ended when Edelstein promised to send Diana some Eagles t-shirts.

When Eagles owner Leonard Hymas Tose heard about this, he thought a custom-made jacket would be more fitting for a princess. Even today, photos of Diana in the jacket are framed in bars in Philadelphia.

Last week the Eagles made the jacket available to the public for the first time, more than thirty years after Di first wore it.

Available from sports retailer Mitchell & Ness for £320, ‘our latest limited edition release pays tribute to an iconic era in Eagles history and pop culture, capturing the essence of a royal moment in time’. Rather.