Ahead of The Crown Season 4 premiere on Sunday, November 15, Emma Corrin, who is playing Princess Diana on the Netflix show, has been keeping busy. Between (virtual) red carpet premieres, guest appearances on late-night talk shows, and press events to promote the forthcoming season, Corrin has been stealing the hearts of fans of the series and Diana, alike, thanks to her grace and charm — qualities that made her the perfect fit to play the "people’s princess." Her style, with more than a few nods to the Princess of Wales, too, has many singing her praises.
Despite many of the press events for The Crown being canceled or moved online due to the pandemic, Corrin made a point of showing off some Diana-level fashion moments leading up to the premiere. Back in July, the 24-year-old, who has previously starred in a U.K. series called Grantchester, appeared on an episode of Graham Norton, a popular talk show in the U.K. While there, she and her co-star Josh O’Connor (who plays Prince Charles) discussed getting into their respective characters. For the appearance, she wore a stunning Richard Quinn dress with enormous puff sleeves, not unlike the ones featured on the gown Diana wore to marry Prince Charles in 1981.
Months later, on Thursday, at the show’s virtual premiere, Corrin sported a custom tartan co-ord. The look, which included a ruffled blouse and matching leggings, was reminiscent of many plaid ensembles Diana wore over the years. At another pre-premiere press event, for Netflix UK & Ireland, Corrin chose a collared, yellow frock to play popular British pub game Fives with co-star Olivia Colman. Statement collars and the color yellow were prominent sartorial fixtures in Diana’s wardrobe — made more modern with Corrin's addition of the lug-soled, knee-high boots.
Ahead, check out all of Corrin’s Princess Diana-inspired looks so far.
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If fashion historians were to look back on 2020, we suspect they’d either shake their heads in incredulity or smirk in bemusement at how much we, collectively, fell into a pit of singular dressing: nap dresses (more so designed to be photographed in rather than actually sleep in), tie-dye anything, and sweatsuits saturated in every color imaginable. In our defense, outfitting ourselves in comfort clothing — and participating in a shared fashion experience — is, really, the only way to wield control when life feels completely and utterly chaotic.
That’s not to say this year marks the end of individualistic style. With the end of 2020 fast approaching (subtext: a new year, a clean slate, a glimmer of hope), this is the time to reclaim our stylistic preferences from pre-pandemic times. If not now, then when? To help re-familiarize yourself with non-sweats, we partnered with Cuddl Duds to put together five outfits that both harness the power of layering to keep you warm this winter (without feeling weighed down) and celebrate your personal style.
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In an act of end-of-the-week kindness we needed, Vogue revealed its December cover star, featuring none other than “charm-heavy style czar” Harry Styles, as writer Hamish Bowles calls him. In the cover story, the two banter about Alain de Botton novels, how Pilates has loosened up Styles’ hamstrings, and watching Clueless during lockdown (relatable). The revelation of Styles’ cover and profile is not in the text, however. The boy bander turned charisma-oozing solo artist and actor — who is the first man to appear on the publication’s cover solo — wears a dress straight from Gucci’s fall ‘20 runway.
The choice of the dress is not unusual for Styles, who has been known to make fashion statements and push gender norms in the past. He painted his nails lavender (and paired them with a lace collar and Mary Janes) for the 2020 Brit Awards red carpet; wore a sheer, pussy-bow blouse and a women’s Marc Jacobs suit (previously worn by Lady Gaga) for the awards themselves; and stripped down to fishnets for a shoot in Beauty Papers magazine in March. Styles’ affinity for pearls is, too, well-documented, as is his ability to send fans into overdrive after appearing in a new look. “There was such an insane spark of interest after he wore [an éliou necklace],” Cristy Mantilla, a co-founder of the Miami-based jewelry brand, told Refinery29 following the release of photos that showed Styles wearing a custom necklace from the brand at an airport in Italy. (He went on to wear another éliou necklace in the music video for “Golden,” and yet another in the Vogue spread.)
Per Bowles, Styles showed up for his interview wearing a pair of Columbia Records track pants and a sweatshirt he designed himself, but told the writer he wished he’d packed a muumuu for the occasion. According to Styles, his wearing of traditionally feminine garments started from a young age, when he’d dress up in “fancy dress” — British for costumes — for school plays. For his stage debut, he dressed up as Barney, a church mouse, which called for him to wear tights. “I remember it was crazy to me that I was wearing a pair of tights. And that was maybe where it all kicked off,” he says.
In other photos from the shoot, Styles wears a pleated skirt (courtesy of Instagram brand Chopova Lowena) and a lace gown. “I like playing dress-up in general,” says Styles. Alessandro Michele, Gucci’s creative director and a close friend of Styles, tells Bowles: “He is the image of a new era, of the way that a man can look.”
In July 2017, Vogue published a cover starring a different former One Direction member: Zayn Malik. Malik posed alongside then-girlfriend, now mother of his child, Gigi Hadid, for the cover — a shoot highlighting a “New Generation Embracing Gender Fluidity,” according to the accompanying story’s headline. Their interchangeable Gucci suits were meant to signify that the couple was not tied down by gender standards, according to Vogue. Following backlash over having a cis couple representing gender fluidity, a Vogue spokeswoman released an official statement: “The story was intended to highlight the impact the gender-fluid, non-binary communities have had on fashion and culture. We are very sorry the story did not correctly reflect that spirit — we missed the mark. We do look forward to continuing the conversation with greater sensitivity.”
Three years later, and it didn’t take an official gender issue to get there, but rather casting someone who doesn’t feel the need to confine himself in any way, especially in fashion. “When you take away ‘There’s clothes for men and there’s clothes for women,’ once you remove any barriers, obviously you open up the arena in which you can play,” Styles tells Bowles. That’s not to say that Styles is the first cis man to wear a dress. Men have been dressing in an androgynous manner for decades. However, he is one of the first to do so on such a global scale. (The man has 32.6 million followers on Instagram.)
In another part of the interview, Styles revealed another relatable item he has been living in during the pandemic, describing his lockdown uniform as “sweatpants, constantly.” He was still wearing them when cameras caught him on the set of Olivia Wilde’s forthcoming thriller Don’t Worry Darling (which has since paused filming due to the coronavirus). In the photo that circulated, Styles wears tie-dye joggers by luxury knitwear brand Elder Statesman with New Balance 574 sneakers, and a T-shirt by L.A.-based brand Free & Easy with “Vote!” printed across the back in rainbow lettering.
Here is a man who wears Renaissance-inspired gowns on the cover of Vogue, wishes he had on a muumuu, and wears sweats that make the internet drool. This man doesn’t believe in gender norms. He contains multitudes. His last name is, after all, Styles.
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When preparing for the new season of the Netflix show, costume designer Amy Roberts and assistant costume designer/head buyer Sidonie Roberts studied photographs of the royal family before sourcing and buying fabrics for the costumes that were made from scratch. While the color palette they chose for Corrin's character was in keeping with the actual looks the Princess of Wales appeared in, the duo leaned toward shades that other royals did not wear, like red, to "further emphasize the narrative of 'her' vs 'them,'" according to press materials. This resulted in some bold evening looks, as well as Princess Diana's signature casual styles, like graphic sweaters and statement collars.
Ahead, see costumes from The Crown, on Netflix November 15, inspired by Princess Diana's best fashion moments.
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When Beyoncé’s British Vogue cover story was released, among a handful of stunning photographs featured, one stood out. The shot showed Knowles-Carter with her back to the camera in a low-back, red Christopher John Rogers gown, a crystal-encrusted Agent Provocateur G-string on display. “Someone needs to come collect me off the floor,” Whembley Sewell, Editor-in-Chief of Them, wrote below Rogers’ Instagram post. Under her comment, stylist Mecca James-Williams wrote, “MAJOR.” In the 48 hours following the story’s release, fashion search engine Lyst reported that search for Christopher John Rogers increased by 20%, as did red maxi dresses, which spiked 101%. The visible thong, a trend popular during Destiny’s Child Y2K reign, while surprising on the cover of a publication like British Vogue, is just the latest example of the G-string slowly creeping its way back into fashion in 2020.
A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Nov 1, 2020 at 9:15am PST
The controversial trend, also known as a whale tail, made its fashion debut at Jean Paul Gaultier’s spring ‘97 runway show. A few years later, it was spotted on celebrities like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Christina Milian, and Christina Aguilera. At the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, Spears wore a gold two-piece with a built-in G-string during a performance of “Oops I Did It… Again;” Hilton’s exposed thong debuted at a New York Fashion Week presentation in 2001; and Milian was spotted not once, but twice, in 2002 — first at the premiere of Spears’ flick Crossroads, and again at Justin Timberlake’s Justified release party. And these are just the highlights.
By the mid-’00s, to our relief, the trend went away… only to resurface again last year. At the 2019 camp-themed Met Gala, Hailey Bieber walked the pink carpet alongside designer Alexander Wang wearing a matching form-fitting gown with a low back. With the dress, Bieber showed off a thong that spelled out “Wang” in the same cotton candy shade of pink.
A month after the Met Gala, during spring ‘20 Milan Men’s Fashion Week, model Bella Hadid walked the Versace show wearing a black bralette underneath a sparkling blazer and fitted, black pants. Peeking out from underneath the ultra-low hem of her trousers, was, you guessed it, a thong, one baring Versace’s signature gold logo. Days later in Paris, a model on the Heron Preston catwalk wore patterned, low-rise cargo pants that showed off her black G-string. Also in June 2019, Euphoria star Alexa Demie (who plays Maddy Perez) wore an open-back, snakeskin dress by Mexican fashion brand Akna at the red carpet premiere of the HBO hit series. In a move that Maddy would approve of — the brand designed her character’s crystal two-piece set for the homecoming episode — the actress paired the floor-length, gloved dress with a black, gem-encrusted thong. Jennifer Lopez and Rowan Blanchard also let their underwear slip into view in 2018 and 2019, respectively — Lopez on the set of Second Act in Natasha Zinko trousers, and Blanchard for a night out in New York City.
Cut to 2020 and the pandemic, and comfort is reigning over style. While the nap dress and loungewear trends have been consistently on the rise since spring, others, like fitted suiting, that were set to rise pre-COVID fell flat once most of the world was ushered indoors. Which makes it that much harder to believe that the G-string has not only returned to haunt us, but is actually gaining popularity in lockdown. And yet, here we are, with visible thongs creeping up everywhere.
A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Oct 16, 2020 at 7:59pm PDT
In October, hours after posing alongside her former boss Paris Hilton in matching velour sweatsuits, Kim Kardashian West posted an image of herself wearing a thong-baring Givenchy dress to Instagram. If that didn’t transport you back to the aughts, this will: Kimora Lee Simmons, the founder of ’00s cult brand Baby Phat, commented on the photo. “Your thong is showing ladyyyyyyy!!!” That same month, Emily Ratajkowski nearly tricked us into thinking her first spotting post-pregnancy news included a visible G-string when she wore a cutout Aya Muse dress. (It was a false alarm; the form-fitting dress just had a deceptive side strap). Then, of course, came the Beyoncé cover.
Celebrities have long worn out-there fashion that we wouldn’t dare to. But they aren’t the only ones who are welcoming back the controversial trend. There’s a new wave of designers currently embracing the whale tail. Kendra Duplantier launched her namesake brand with a pair of low-rise black trousers with cutouts resembling a visible thong just as Los Angeles was going into lockdown. What’s interesting is that her brand’s ethos is all about slow, ethical fashion, with each piece designed to remain relevant and stylish season after season. For her, thong-baring isn’t a trend at all, but a staple. Kari Fry, the designer behind another just-launched L.A.-based brand, Subsurface, has also made thongs a focal point of her brand. Her Hostess pant — which “embodies all things late ‘90s and early 2000s,” according to the website — features a thong-like cutout.
Fry tells Refinery29 that she believes in the “20-year-rule,” the idea that trends return every two decades. “Designs and trends tend to run on a cycle, and a lot of young designers coming up right now are ‘90s babies. I’m a ‘90s baby and this style is nostalgic for me.” Specifically, the designer took inspiration from another famous early-aughts celebrity look: Gillian Anderson’s 2001 Vanity Fair Oscars after-party dress. For the occasion, the British actress — known by Gen Z as Otis’ sex therapist mother on the Netflix show Sex Education and by Gen X and millennials as Special Agent Dana Scully on TheX-Files (she’s also Margaret Thatcher onThe Crown) — wore a long-sleeved, backless dress made of jersey. Paired with it was a sheer black thong. (Because it was 2001, she also wore tiny sunglasses with lavender-tinted lenses and carried an acetate top-handle bag.) “I wanted to create a sporty, wearable rendition [of Anderson’s red carpet look],” says Fry.
Call it nostalgia for simpler times or the cyclical nature of fashion trends, but the whale tail is back. Though, if you ask us, Beyoncé is the only one who can really pull it off.
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मलाइका अरोड़ा और करीना कपूर को दिवाली से पहले एयपोर्ट पर स्पॉट किया गया। बेबो जहां अपने बेटे तैमूर अली खान के साथ दिखीं, तो वहीं मलाइका को अकेले ही देखा गया। इस दौरान दोनों ने जो कैजुअल क्लोद्स चुने थे, वे स्टाइल के मामले में लगभग एक जैसे थे।