Princess Diana is famous for lots of things and definitely one of them is her impeccable style. Her signature blonde hair, bold colors, and sometimes risky silhouettes made her stand out everywhere she went.
As for her clothes, designers like Versace and Dior were amongst her favorites. Not for nothing, the French house named a bag in her honor, but that is another story. However, there was one particular brand she refused to use, and that was Chanel. Especially in the months after her divorce from Prince Charles was announced.
Jayson Brundson, an Australian designer, discovered the heartbreaking reason why Diana didn’t wear Chanel during her last visit to that country in 1996.
Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar Australia in 2018, Brundson recounted his encounter with the princess and how he realized that she refused to wear anything Chanel because of Charles and Camilla.
Back in 1996, Brundson served as an assistant to Jo Bailey, who was appointed as Diana’s hairdresser while her time in Australia.
One of the days he was in Diana’s room at the Ritz Carlton, he recalls, Diana asked them both how to accessorize her outfit: a cream Versace skirt suit. Jo left the work to Jayson because, in her opinion, he had better taste when it came to clothes.
“She went back to her bedroom and came out holding handfuls of shoes and bags and just dumped them all down on the couch. Then said, ‘what do you think?’, so I went through them all and I found a pair of Chanel shoes, and I said, ‘well these would look great with the Versace’ and she said ‘no, I can’t wear linked Cs, the double C’, Jayson said.
Of course, Diana was referring to the double C’s like Charles and Camilla and she refused to wear the shoes due to the timing. It was a post-divorce era and she wanted to avoid any reminder of her marriage and Charles’ infidelity. After all, it was that same year she and the Prince of Wales parted ways.
