The commotion in the palace
Women have always drawn inspiration for their style from other women, but the environment of the icons has changed. In the 1930s and 1950s, trends were dictated by Hollywood. Later, clothing was determined by the modernity of the 1960s and 1970s mixed with disco style, until in the 1980s, films again became the main source of inspiration. Since the 1990s, many clothing combinations have often resembled the style of the characters in the famous series "Friends", and a decade later the world began to imitate the clothing of celebrities. The most important faces of current fashion brands are opinion leaders, and some of the most influential come from royal families. So what are the
What are the most important lessons we learn from modern princesses and queens?
Lesson 1: Breaking the Rules
Whenever women from the world of cinema (Grace Kelly, Meghan Markle) or even the simpler world of news and sports (the current Queen of Spain was a journalist, and the Princess of Monaco was a former swimming champion) joined the royal family, all eyes were on them, and the monarchs tried to control the newcomers. This is clearly visible when looking at the images of the aforementioned women, created in the first years after joining the royal environment. All of them sincerely tried not to annoy the older monarchs and not to stand out with their own style. Former actresses Grace Kelly, later Meghan Markle, had to give up Hollywood extravagance and rediscover their style in a more restrained form, more acceptable to the royal environment. Grace Kelly accepted this change naturally and never lost her originality. An incorrigible fan of the Dior fashion house (it is said that about a third of her wardrobe consisted of clothes designed by Dior), unimaginable without sunglasses and scarves, the muse of the most famous fashion houses (Gucci created a floral silk scarf for the princess, Hermes christened one of its handbags Kelly), she has remained a style icon to this day. The Meghan Markle effect is nowhere near hers. After the press release about her engagement to Prince Harry, Europeans sought to replicate Meghan's style, but as soon as she left London, they lost interest.
The Queen of Spain has also gone through different stages: from wanting to be accepted into a new family at any cost, forgetting her personality and blindly copying her mother-in-law, to discovering her own style and the title of the best-dressed queen in the world. Interestingly, the spending on clothes of Letizia of Spain and Charlene of Monaco differs radically: if on average one piece of Queen Letizia's clothing costs about 500 euros (most everyday clothes are affordable and of affordable brands), then Charlene spends almost 12 thousand on one piece of clothing. However, women are more like Letizia, who spends the least of all monarchs.
The title of the most rebellious royal in history goes to Princess Diana, without a doubt. In her early years, trying to fit into the restrained British royal family, young Diana wore voluminous clothes with puffed sleeves, huge collars, and ruffles, and eventually got married in a very puffy dress. In the 1980s, she fell in love with the work of Valentino, Chanel, and Galliano, Dior created a handbag called Lady Dior, and Diana allowed herself to be herself. It is the freedom to be herself that always impresses and inspires
others the most.
Lesson 2: Modesty
When a country is known for its excessive consumption, the monarchs' everyday clothing and accessory choices become extremely important. After the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, began appearing in public repeatedly wearing the same H&M or Accessorize earrings, after the usual ones of the former Queen Elizabeth II
jewels, this was completely new to the followers of the royal family. Over the past five
It has become common to see the Duchess adorning herself with inexpensive costume jewelry for years.
The eyes of the Spanish are also always on the royal family. Considering that Spain is
The birthplace of fast fashion, where an average garment is worn three times, seeing the Queen and Princess wearing each other's clothes makes you think about sustainability. In the spring of 2022, when the Queen appeared at an event in a Mango dress that another participant in the event was also wearing, photos of the Queen laughing happily at the situation immediately went around the country. It seemed that the whole country breathed a sigh of relief: even queens sometimes appear in the same dress as another participant in the event.
The amounts published annually, how much each member of the country's royal family spends on clothes, shoes and jewelry, say a lot about each woman's approach to sustainability and simplicity. Apart from Princess Charlene of Monaco, no other woman's annual purchases exceed 700 thousand euros. And there is a solid 500 thousand euros difference between first and second place.
Lesson 3: Healthy Body
One of the most important arguments for the press to show support or condemn members of the royal family has always been their outwardly visible health and body lines. All the princesses have passed the test of the press with comments on how quickly (or perhaps not quickly enough) they regained their pre-pregnancy forms. The way both Princess Diana and Kate Middleton looked while posing on the hospital steps has been written about not only in the British press. Although the pressure to return to their usual perfect volumes is great, princesses are even more condemned when they look too thin. Questions about whether Kate looks healthy appear periodically in the press, as well as comments about the secrets of her elegance, posture or strong arms.
In Spain, the then Princess Letizia's most difficult period, when the royal family was extremely unpopular due to scandals involving the current King Felipe VI's father, Juan Carlos I, coincided with extremely harsh criticism in the press for her too thin body shape. In a country where models with a body mass index too low cannot appear at Madrid Fashion Week, having an extremely thin and fragile princess meant constant criticism and talk of anorexia. The situation changed when in 2019, people began to write about the visible changes in the queen's shape, her toned body and pronounced muscles. In recent years, the queen's extremely strong arms have become the subject of many Spanish
aspiration.
Lesson 4: Undisguised Aging
When the British press published photos of Queen Letizia of Spain in the spring of 2023, showing strands of gray hair, and called the queen sloppy, the Spanish press came to the queen's defense. There was a heated debate that it was not an easy task for a dark-haired woman to keep her hair impeccably dark over the years, until the queen's decision not to hide her increasingly gray strands became a victory for the freedom of women throughout the country to be natural, to age and not be judged for it.
Similarly, in recent years, Kate Middleton's naturalness has been admired (not always). The Duchess, who recently turned 42, is increasingly being photographed by paparazzi with tired-looking dark circles under her eyes, and signs of aging are becoming more and more visible. Although K. Middleton has been widely criticized for her naturalness, her decision to forgo beauty injections, at least for now, is also admired.
Lesson 5: Messages Encoded in Clothes
That clothes often convey important messages, from political views to declared values
values, nothing new. Princess Diana's revealing black dress, worn after then-Prince Charles publicly admitted to being unfaithful to her during their marriage, has been called the "revenge dress."
Clothing strengthens the positions of royals on certain issues, for example, when
When the war in Ukraine broke out, Queen Letizia of Spain appeared in public with a traditional
Ukrainian vizyvanka or at a meeting earlier this year with women involved in prostitution
The organization's representatives wore a coat sewn by one of the victims.
The Queen of Spain, among other royals, also stands out for her consistent support of Spanish fashion designers. The Queen wears both well-known mass-produced Spanish brands (Massimo Dutti, Zara, etc.) and young and little-known Spanish designers. As dramatic as it may sound, the Queen's clothing choices change the fate of their designers. It is enough to appear in public once in a dress created by a widely unknown designer and in one night thousands of his clothes are needed. This is what happened with the beige polka-dot dress worn at the NATO summit in Madrid - the name of the family business, run by a woman, Laura Bernal, appeared in most of the most important Spanish fashion magazines
on portals.
What ends up in the wardrobe of the Queen of Spain also has an impact on the country's economy. When the Queen's latest choice, whether it's a dress or comfortable summer espadrilles, goes viral on social media, online stores usually temporarily shut down because they can't handle the influx of customers. The clothes worn by Letizia are usually bought up within the first quarter of an hour, and a little later, platforms selling second-hand clothes profit from it: a summer Zara dress becomes a "dress worn by the Queen" and its value immediately increases. The Queen's own position when choosing clothes is clear - there is no better description of a garment than made in Spain. Spanish women are constantly taught such lessons - to be proud of the creators of their country.
This is how the legend of queens and princesses lives on. The desire of women all over the world to get closer to a different, royal reality encourages them to look for earrings that the queen herself wore or a magical cream that will bring them closer to the everyday life of a princess. Fairy tales about royal palaces that made us dream in childhood, when we grow up, turn into a desire to follow the lives of real monarchs. Long live the kings who create the illusion that fairy tales become reality. But the inspiration we draw from them is real.