How Philip Somerville Helped Shape Diana’s Royal Style

When people think about Princess Diana's wardrobe, hats usually aren't the first thing that come to mind.

It's funny actually.

 

Most people remember the dresses. The photographs. The big fashion moments that ended up on magazine covers. But if you start looking through older pictures for a few minutes, you begin noticing something else. Diana wore hats... a lot.

And quite a few of them came from Philip Somerville.

If you've been exploring pieces inside The Princess Diana Museum, you've probably come across his name already. It pops up repeatedly once you start paying attention.

Not Every Fashion Influence Gets the Headlines

Somerville wasn't one of those designers constantly putting himself in the spotlight.

In some ways, that's what makes the story interesting.

He wasn't creating outfits that screamed for attention. His role was different. The hats had to work with everything else Diana was wearing. The coat. The dress. The occasion. Even the weather sometimes.

Sounds simple when written in one sentence.

It wasn't.

Royal appearances were photographed from every possible angle. One event could generate hundreds of images. Every detail ended up being discussed somewhere.

No pressure then.

Looking at Old Photos Feels Different Once You Notice It

I had this reaction looking through photographs from the mid-1980s.

At first you're looking at Diana.

Then you start looking at what she's wearing.

Then suddenly you're looking at the hat.

And once that happens, you realize how much those pieces contributed to the overall look.

The black velvet beret in the museum collection is a good example. By itself, it's fairly understated. Nothing outrageously dramatic about it.

Yet when Diana wore it, the whole thing worked.

Fashion is strange like that sometimes.

Diana Changed. The Hats Changed Too.

One thing I always find fascinating is how different Diana looked from one decade to the next.

Compare photographs from her early years as Princess of Wales to images from the early 1990s.

It's almost like watching somebody gradually become more comfortable in their own skin.

The clothing changed.

The hairstyles changed.

The hats changed too.

Some of Somerville's later designs feel a little bolder. Not wildly so. Just enough to notice.

You get the impression that he understood Diana's style wasn't standing still. It was evolving year by year.

And he evolved with it.

Why People Still Care About These Pieces

Because they're not really about hats.

Well... not entirely.

They're small clues from a particular period in Diana's life.

A lot of museum objects work that way. You think you're looking at one thing, but it's actually connected to a much bigger story.

That's true with many of the Philip Somerville pieces preserved by The Princess Diana Museum.

They tell us something about royal fashion, certainly.

 

But they also tell us something about Diana herself. About how she presented herself to the world. About how her confidence seemed to grow over time.

That's probably why people are still interested all these years later.

The hats just happen to be the starting point.