When you shake off a cold and can finally breathe through your nose again… Snickers… Princess Anne’s style…
What do these three things have in common? They’re all utterly underrated.
Say the word ‘royal style icon’ and your mind immediately runs to Princess Diana or the Princess of Wales.
But Silvia Venturini Fendi, the matriarch at the helm of the revered Italian fashion house Fendi, thinks the list should include someone else: Princess Anne.
Princess Anne looks well covered up in 1984. Little did she know that this would inspire a whole look for the Fendi fashion show in 2024
The Fendi catwalk in January 2024 – with a Princess Royal influence!
Princess Anne shows off a kilt in Scotland in 1988
A kilted Claudia Winkelman, presenter of Traitors. She has described herself as ‘a sea monster meets Princess Anne’
Claudia’s barbour and chunky knit in greens and browns would not be out of place on Anne
‘I fell in love with the style of Princess Anne who, to my mind, is the most elegant woman in the world,’ said Fendi.
‘When I saw the Coronation last year with Princess Anne in her uniform, I thought she looked beautiful.
So I said, ‘let’s be inspired for a men’s collection’.
At Fendi’s AW24 men’s show – held in Milan at the end of last week – models stormed the runway in wax jackets, welly boots, and lashings of tartan in a love letter to the countrycore aesthetic Anne has spearheaded since the ‘70s.
Anne’s fashion fan club has been slowing building over the past few years, and the Fendi show can be seen as the culmination of this.
It’s also part of a wider obsession in current high fashion with British countrycore: Barbour recently collaborated with Gucci, no less.
The style of Anne specifically re-entered public consciousness when series 3 of The Crown was released in November 2019, with actor of the moment Erin Doherty playing a young Anne.
And recently, it has gained further traction thanks to a little thing called The Traitors. Presenter Claudia Winkleman’s style in the BBC reality series (one of last week’s episodes brought in a record 3.8 million viewers) has been described by Claudia herself as ‘a sea monster meets Princess Anne, and then they go to a golf sale, and nod at Jane McDonald’.
What makes Anne’s style so appealing?
She knows the power of a ‘less is more’ uniform – Barbour, wellies, jeans – but likewise knows how and when to go all-out. Quiet luxury with the odd dash of occasion-appropriate loud luxury, if you will.
She’s never been afraid of a bright colour: the carnation yellow mini coat dress and matching hat (the latter complete with giant bow, naturally) that she wore to the Bath and West Agricultural Show in 1969 wouldn’t look out of place on an Emilia Wickstead catwalk today.
Anne and husband, Tim Laurence in matching waxed jackets at Badminton Horse Trials in 2010
Princess Anne with Zara in 1983 in corduroy trousers – which are on sale in these colours on the high street in 2024
It’s the ultimate Barbour family with Anne, Peter and Zara all matching in coats and wellies
A high-necked, long-sleeved, riot-of-colour floral print dress from 1973 – very Alessandro Michele for Gucci
Princess Anne in 1982 wearing one of the huge trends of 2024 – Adidas Samba trainers
Princess Anne in a full-length cloak – a cape in regimental colors of the 8th Canadian Hussars
Princess Anne in a Breton top and white jeans in 1970 – a fashionable look today
Then there’s a high-necked, long-sleeved, riot-of-colour floral print dress from 1973 – very Alessandro Michele for Gucci.
While Anne is a fan, much like the Princess of Wales, of ‘literal’ dressing – a Breton on a boat, a kilt in Scotland, a regal cape for state occasions – her looks never become predictable or cliché.
That’s because even seemingly ‘twee’ looks are peppered with offbeat touches.
In the ‘80s, jeans were paired with trainers resembling the Adidas Sambas for which every influencer is still on the waitlist.
(It shouldn’t be forgotten that a royal in trainers in the ‘80s was quite revolutionary).
There’s a 1985 knitted tank top with a sheep and trees pattern that Harry Styles would step out in today. And that’s before we’ve even got to the sunglasses.
The tortoiseshell, larger-than-life shades she has favoured since the ‘70s fit exactly into the ‘mob wife’ aesthetic that’s viral on TikTok right now.
They’re glasses that say ‘do I look like I fly economy?’, but Anne makes them unpretentious by pairing them with denim.
She’s the master of high-low dressing. Gen Z’s hearts were captured again when Anne wore frameless Adidas sports sunglasses alongside formalwear to many a Jubilee event in 2022.
Balenciaga soon after launched a near identical pair. The internet went wild.
The scarf and floppy hat combo will be seen on the beaches this year
Anne in Sri Lanka last week wore frameless Adidas sports sunglasses alongside formalwear to many a Jubilee event in 2022. Balenciaga soon after launched a near identical pair. The internet went wild
Balenciaga frameless sunglasses based on Anne’s ones sent the internet wild
This diplomatic high-low approach to dressing is symptomatic of the similarly diplomatic way in which Anne has lived out her life and career – can you name a royal scandal involving Anne?
No. She’s widely known to be one of the hardest working royals. In 1974, a man attempted to kidnap her from her car on her way back to Buckingham Palace after a trip to the cinema.
‘Not bloody likely’, she told him.
Quite.
