A look at every one of Princess Diana’s best ever dresses (yes, including that revenge dress)

Today, 1st July 2022, would have been Princess Diana’s 61st birthday. And we’re taking that as the perfect opportunity to pay homage to the style icon’s most iconic ever dresses (as if we needed an excuse…).

From the polka dot smock she wore when leaving the hospital with baby Prince William to her much-talked about ‘Revenge Dress’, Diana’s wardrobe was the most scrutinised of her time.

Unlike today – when everyone even remotely in the public eye is judged for what they wear thanks to the relentlessly endless cycle of images published globally – at the time the young royal was one of the few known faces to be photographed everywhere she went. Thankfully, fashion critics loved her.

Never one to shy away from a trend, Princess Diana braved a smorgasbord of styles that would no doubt be deemed inappropriate for the Duchess of Cambridge to wear today, such is the new unspoken royal dress code.

While the Duchess is, of course, a style icon in her own right, wouldn’t it be fun to see Kate Middleton wearing a glitter-beaded, one-shoulder gown to a James Bond premiere, or a strappy black mini dress so show-stopping that you’d think she’d just fallen off an Eighties Versace runway?

Thanks in equal measure to both the sartorially-experimental era that she lived in and her much-adored rebellious streak, Princess Diana wore just about everything she likely wasn’t supposed to. Which is almost certainly a key factor in everyone’s adoration for her wardrobe to this very day…

Oversized collars that would make Ganni proud, Bardot necklines that made global headlines and shoulder pads that, well, we’re desperate to borrow, the Princess had one of those innate, iconic, and instantly-recognisable senses of style that you just can’t teach. Princess Diana’s aesthetic was truly one of a kind.

Almost twenty-five years on from her tragic and untimely death, scroll down to reminisce over some of our favourite looks from an utterly unforgettable royal fashion icon…

For more from Glamour UK’s Fashion Editor Charlie Teather, follow her on Instagram @charlieteather