Princess Anne has proven why she is the ultimate royal style queen with a fashion hack that involves rewearing clothes for decades, sometimes more than half a century after their first outing. As the Princess Royal celebrates her 76th birthday, her no-nonsense approach to fashion has been praised by celebrity stylist Ciara Russell.
Anne has never appeared interested in chasing trends, overhauling her wardrobe every season, or retiring an outfit simply because photographers have already seen it. Instead, she buys well, knows what suits her, and actually wears her clothes again and again.
A dress from 1969 returns
Earlier this year, Anne attended the Nigerian State Banquet at Windsor Castle wearing an elegant cream ensemble first seen in 1969, when she was just 18 years old. After an astonishing 57 years, it was back. The piece appears to have undergone alterations during its extraordinary lifespan, but that only strengthens the argument that good clothes can be adjusted, restyled, and allowed to evolve with the person wearing them.
Celebrity stylist Ciara Russell told the Daily Express: “I think it really shows the quality of the clothes she was buying in the first place. For something to still look good and be wearable 30, 40 or even 50 years later, it has to have been made properly. The quality of the fabric, the tailoring and the construction all play a huge part. It shows why investing in fewer, better-made pieces can be so worthwhile.”
Rewearing at family weddings
Anne’s State Banquet appearance was no one-off. At her son Peter Phillips’s wedding to his wife Harriet this summer, the Princess Royal wore a floral ensemble with a butter-yellow hat that had previously appeared at Zara Tindall’s christening in 1981. Some 45 years later, Anne saw no reason why a perfectly good piece should be pensioned off simply because it had already been photographed.
Anne could feasibly commission something new for every engagement, yet she repeatedly chooses not to. The expert continued: “I think it shows that luxury doesn’t have to mean constantly buying something new. To me, real luxury is having beautifully made pieces that you love enough to keep wearing for years. Princess Anne could obviously have a completely new outfit for every engagement if she wanted to, but she doesn’t feel the need to. I think there’s something quite confident and stylish about that.”
Timeless pieces and clever styling
Another extraordinary example is a floral evening dress first worn during an official visit to The Gambia in 1984, which Anne brought back more than four decades later for a formal engagement in London. Anne’s coats also offer evidence of her hard-working wardrobe: a cream-and-navy design first worn to Royal Ascot in 1980 returned to the Epsom Derby in 1985 and continued to appear decades later, including at Commonwealth Day in 2018.
Ciara explained: “I think the biggest thing is realising that you don’t need to buy a whole new outfit to make something feel different. Changing your shoes, bag, jewellery or the way you style a jacket can completely change a look. I personally love mixing older pieces with something more current because I think it makes an outfit feel more individual.”
Anne’s style has lasted because she has never tried too hard to follow fashion, knows what suits her, invests in quality, and isn’t afraid to wear the same pieces again and make them feel current. In an industry constantly telling us what to buy next, Anne’s greatest style lesson is remarkably simple: before buying something new, take another look at what you already own.
