to a visit to Liverpool, thirty-five years ago this month, that saw an expectant Princess of Wales in a bowed, pink, John Boyd hat.
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Royal Hats
The Bold, Beautiful and Bizarre World of Royal Millinery
I cant believe its 35 years ago, (although obviously I do because my eldest son is 37 this year) we couldnt get enough of Di and her outfits, she made hat wearing a thing again for young women. The ruffles and colour of this outfit are lovely but the hat is odd looking the 80s might have revived hats but the plonk it on straight look was not so good.
At the time I thought this outfit was fun…. but looking back; blimey there’s a lot going on! Not all of the early 80sfashions were bad, but this wouldn’t go down as a good luck for the future…
Take the ruffles off the sleeves and yoke and this is probably a nice maternity coat – which I’d rather see than skintight lycra maternity outfits stretched across a tummy with a protruding belly button winking at me.
Diana looks lovely in that shade of pink. That’s all I’ve got.
I daresay the hat’s rather well coordinated to the outfit.
Once Princess Diana started to streamline her style (straight, unadorned dresses; wide picture hats; short hair), her style really took off. This pink flouncy look clearly is from before that time.
It was a maternity outfit though.
This is not my favorite of Princess Diana’s hats. She had so many pretty ones. But with so much going on with this coat, it was wise to keep the hat simple. I think the small bow under the brim of this hat adds a playful feminine touch that was quite in keeping with her style then.
I remember the coat more than the hat. It is a beautiful color on the Princess. It is interesting to see the swing in fashion from small hats to fascinators to percher hats to wide brimmed slice hats! With Diana’s height she could rock a slice hat just like Queen Max today! Personally, I don’t mind the bow, but I do think it would look better at an angle. This is before Diana really hit her stride in fashion . She is still at the ultra feminine/part girl stage.
Well… she was just 20. I can’t imagine some of my fashion choices at age 20 being captured to the degree (and audience) that these ones were.
Gads there were some horrible fashions in the 80s!
The Princess is lovely, the color is gorgeous. I wonder if the hat might look better at an angle? If the bow side were up, that might make the bow look less awkward?
Interesting point- when I look through hat photos from the 1980s, few were worn at an angle. I think the style of the time was to wear hats quite straight.
I also thought the hat looked too small on her in the pictures, and I’m not sure I like the bow on the side Didn’t realize it was there either.
Diana looked so good in pink. What I don’t remember was the bow at the side under the brim. Seeing it from that side makes me go hmm, not sure I like the bow.
Gosh I love that color, and she looks so beautifully of-that-time. Is it just me or does that hat look a little small on her? Is that a stylistic thing?
I think it is a stylistic thing- many of Diana’s hats in the early 1980s were very small.
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And of course- she wasn’t the only royal in small hats during that time!
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