20 years after the death of Princess Diana, a tribute paying homage to her iconic dress style is set to be displayed. “Diana: Her Fashion Story”, hosted in her London residence Kensington Palace, follows her evolution from the demure outfits of her first public appearances to the glamorous gowns of her later life. Consisting of 25 outfits, the show traces how she not only rewrote the rules of royal dressing with a more informal style, but also how she expressed herself through her fashion choices before her 1997 death in a car crash in Paris.

“Each of the dresses is like a mini biography… They’re not just what she wore but they tell stories,” Libby Thompson, a curator, told AFP. Fellow curator Eleri Lynn said: “We see her growing in confidence throughout her life, increasingly taking control of how she was represented”.

Some of the highlights include the discreet pale pink Emanuel blouse she wore for her engagement portrait in 1981 and the dazzling ink blue Victor Edelstein velvet dress she wore when she danced with John Travolta at the White House in 1985. So iconic is the “Travolta” dress that it sold for £250,000 ($310,000) at auction three years ago. Another gown, a silk velvet dress she wore for private events at Buckingham Palace during the 1980s, is sure to charm many visitors.

Tiny fingerprints believed to belong to one of her sons — Prince William and Prince Harry — have been found on the material, preserved through the last 30 years.

Informal wardrobe

The show will highlight how throughout her years as one of the world’s most photographed women, Diana revealed herself to be a diplomatic dresser. The “Gold Falcon Gown” is a perfect example. She wore the Catherine Walker cream silk dress embroidered with gold falcons — the national bird of Saudi Arabia — during a visit to the country in 1986. But it was by breaking the codes of royal dressing and embracing a more practical style that Diana transitioned from the Princess of Wales into the “People’s Princess” — the term used by then prime minister Tony Blair after her death.

“She was taking risks, pushing boundaries with her fashion,” Poppy Cooper, the exhibition’s producer told AFP highlighting how Diana wore black and trousers at formal events. Both were highly unusual choices for royal women. “Lady Di” also abandoned the protocol of wearing gloves, except during a 1987 visit to Spain where she wore one red glove and one black glove, causing “a media frenzy” according to Cooper.

She also developed a more informal “working wardrobe” of chic Catherine Walker suits and tailored shift dresses to champion the causes she cared about. “She wanted to be known as a workhorse, not as a clotheshorse,” Cooper added.

These outfits, designed to convey approachability, she wore on charitable outings including meeting people with HIV and visiting children in hospital. Following her separation from Prince Charles in 1992, Diana threw the rulebook away again by adopting a bolder look featuring many figure-hugging mini dresses. The cream silk mini she wore while attending a charity auction of her more memorable dresses in 1997 is testament to that.

Held in Kensington Palace, her residence for 15 years, the exhibition will extend to the gardens where her sons have said they will add a statue of Diana to mark the anniversary of her passing.

Diana: Her Fashion Story opens 24 February 2017; The White Garden at Kensington Palace will be in place for Spring/Summer 2017