With the first episode of the new season of The Crown premiering on November 9, all eyes are on Elizabeth Debicki to see how she will portray Diana, Princess of Wales.
From the trailer and footage promoting the show, the resemblance is uncanny, and as always, the show has worked hard to perfectly reproduce Diana’s iconic outfits.
Debicki, 32, is aware of the fashion power of her character, telling a news conference: “What made Princess Diana so interesting? [and] What’s iconic about her fashion choices is that she brought the private into the public sphere, something that wasn’t royal and that was fascinating to people because it was so transgressive.”
Before we dive into the new season of The Crown, here’s a look at how Debicki’s fashion elements resemble Diana’s…
1. With a black dress with a sweetheart neckline
Debicki wore an elegant black gown from Dior’s recent couture collection to the series five premiere of The Crown, and it has meaning for one of Diana’s most famous outfits.
Caroline Young, author of FashionQuake and The Color of Fashion, calls Dior’s spectacular gown “incredibly striking, as she can’t help but draw comparisons to Diana’s famous ‘revenge dress’, which features prominently in the new season.” .
Diana wore an LBD in 1994 designed by Christina Stambolian, after then-Prince Charles admitted to being unfaithful to her during their marriage in a television interview. It was an edgier style than audiences were used to seeing Diana wear when she was performing royal duties, and it has the same restrained sexiness as Debicki’s premiere outfit.
“During this period of Diana’s life, she shook up traditions by wearing black, a color that was frowned upon for royalty at red carpet events as it was reserved for mourning,” says Young. “And the ‘revenge dress’ was also shorter and more revealing than she would have been allowed to before.”
2. In pale pink
The theme of the 2019 Met Gala was camp, and Debicki nailed it perfectly in a whimsical pale pink Salvatore Ferragamo number with an eye-catching bow.
“While pink is considered a sweet and feminine color, it has also been reclaimed in recent years as a powerful symbol of femininity,” says Young. “[The dress] it reflects Debicki’s sense of elegance: she likes bold and unusual touches, like the big bow, but tends to veer towards classic elegance in her silhouette.
“In a way, that very much reflects Diana’s own sense of style, choosing simple silhouettes to complement her slim frame.”
The 1980s fashion aesthetic could also be summed up as camp, and Diana favored some seriously fun outfits during that time, like this similar pale pink dress with voluminous sleeves and a bow to top it all off.
3. In flowers
For Vanity Fair’s Oscars after-party in 2019, Debicki debuted an edgy take on flowers in a sequined, fitted black and cream Armani Prive dress with red accents and an unusual print.
Diana also loved floral prints, but her choices veered towards bright colors in 1980s styles. However, for this dress she wore to a party at the British Embassy in Paris in 1988, she chose a darker, more moody palette of red and black, making it a modern take on florals, and something closer to that Debicki could wear today.
4. In sparkles
You can’t go wrong with a little sparkle, and Debicki stunned in a simple black Armani Privé gown at the BAFTAs in 2019, complete with a ruffled detail to the hip and a thigh-high slit.
While few of Diana’s outfits had as much leg, you can see the similarities to one of her most memorable outfits: a shimmering black column gown she wore in 1988, designed by Jacques Azagury.
5. In cakes
Taking a modern take on the trench coat, Debicki wore a pale lilac look to the Burberry fashion show in 2017, a departure from the dark color scheme she tends to favor on the red carpet.
Whereas Diana’s wardrobe was all about color, and she loved pastel shades. She just wears her outfit to Prince William’s confirmation in 1997: a pale blue Chanel suit designed by Karl Lagerfeld. It was a classic outfit that she loved so much that she wore it again for a British Lung Foundation later that year.