Princess Anne at 70: the 7 style lessons we can all learn from the unexpected royal style icon

It wasn’t so long ago that Princess Anne and fashion were barely ever spoken of in the same sentence. Surely there was nothing to see here from The Queen’s no-nonsense only daughter who was happiest on a horse or in a boat? In the past year or two, however, the fashion world’s gaze has shifted to the Princess Royal, and her style icon status has become crystal clear.

There is so much that makes Anne, who turns 70 on Saturday, a fashion leader. For one, her Sixties and Seventies wardrobe is basically the entire premise of Gucci’s current aesthetic. Then there’s the way she epitomises British equestrian chic. And The Hair. No matter what your views on its exact appearance, you can’t deny that sticking steadfastly to a singular look is a ploy borrowed straight from the Anna Wintour/ Karl Lagerfeld school of thought.

So what nuggets of style wisdom can we glean from the Princess Royal as she celebrates her landmark?

Recycle, recycle, recycle

Looking back, Princess Anne really started to get noticed by style watchers when we realised that she was wearing outfits that were often up to 40 years old. We so often talk about buying ‘for ever investments’ but in reality that ends up meaning that you take it to the charity shop after five years.

Not Anne, for whom wearing pieces which she’s owned for decades is entirely the norm; there’s a lilac coat which was worn several times between 1979 and 2004, a cream and navy coat which spanned 1980 to 2018 and the floral frock worn for Charles and Diana’s wedding in 1981 and revived in 2008.

Not all of us would fit into decades-old items but you can still channel Anne by having old items tailored or made into something else.

Develop a signature motif

Brooches are a royal family favourite, an accessory which can instantly lift a jacket or blouse and add an extra level of formality and meaning - indeed, The Queen thinks carefully about the significance behind her choices of pins for every appearence, often wearing something appropriate.

For Anne, it’s her horse brooch which has become her most recognisable accoutrement - a natural choice for the first member of the Royal family to compete in the Olympics when she represented Great Britain in Eventing at 1976’s Montreal games.

Yours needn’t be a horse - though they do look at once elegant and jolly - but something else idiosyncratic, think bows, dogs, flowers, bicycles…

Take just the right amount of style advice from your mother

This all depends on who your mother is but if, like The Queen, she has stringent style opinions then there’s a fine balance to strike. Of course, you want to soak up all her wisdom and clever styling nuances, but without sacrificing your own ideas.

Anne’s approach has been to follow in her mother’s footsteps with many of the fundamental principles of her style, like wearing block colours or favouring kilts off-duty, but she’s added her own twists often via accessories or in more casual moments.

Don’t be a slave to trends

“She’s developed a style of her own, and she sticks to it,” said the Princess Royal’s husband Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence in a recent ITV documentary about his wife. 

Indeed, although Anne’s 60s/ 70s style seems aspirational now, at the time it was out of step with the boho look of the era, nevertheless she stuck to her guns. We might be hailing the Princess’s style and admiring how her checked blazers are just like those on the Saint Laurent catwalk but I’m pretty sure she would assume that was a patron saint of somewhere or other and not a Parisian  fashion brand.

It just takes one accessory to pep up a classic look

What makes Anne’s approach to style so clever is that she often takes a very conservative look and subverts it with one small detail. Most famously in recent years, that’s been her wraparound Adidas sunglasses which I feel sure she perceives to be a practical way to keep the sun out of her eyes, whereas actually they make her look very much in touch with her inner Instagram influencer.

In the Eighties, Anne also went through a phase of wearing headscarves. This gave otherwise unremarkable outfits a kind of Jane Birkin glamour. If Jane Birkin went to the Windsor Horse Show.

Find your signature colour

Anne’s is apparently green, unsurprisingly, given her love of the countryside. It’s the hue she wore when she visited London Fashion Week earlier this year to present the Queen Elizabeth Award for British Design to Rosh Mahtani from Alighieri. Why do you need a signature colour? Well, you don’t. But I imagine it makes getting dressed much simpler.

No fuss always wins

In ITV’s recent documentary, the Princess remarked that she was astonished to hear that it had taken The Crown actress Erin Doherty more than an hour to do her hair for her role playing Anne as a young woman. “How could you possibly take that long?” the Princess wonders. “It takes me 10 or 15 minutes.”

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