This month has seen a big increase in royal appearances and a big focus on royal fashion. Among an array of new looks and outfits, we’ve also seen royals go retro. When Queen Letizia of Spain welcomed the President of Chile to Madrid, she opted for a dress first worn by her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia, several decades ago.
It’s not the first time Spain’s current consort has delved into the fashion archives and revived a look first worn by her predecessor. In fact, royals across Europe have shown a dedication to recycling outfits worn by relatives in times past. Daywear and gala gowns have all got a look in while one princess raided granny’s wardrobe for her wedding look.
Here, we choose our favourite retro royal rewears.
Lydia Starbuck, Associate Editor
Letizia has made a habit of borrowing from Queen Sofia over the years. My favourite pick is this bright red outfit that first made an appearance in the 1980s before being revived by Letizia in 2018. Sofia wore it with a red pillbox hat for her arrival in Denmark for an official visit in 1980.
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Kristin Contino, Chief Reporter
The Swedish royals absolutely love a re-wear, and it’s not unusual to see Crown Princess Victoria or Princess Madeleine borrow from their mother’s wardrobe. Madeleine even wore one of her mother’s dresses as a wedding reception gown! One of my favourite mother/daughter looks is the colour-blocked Nina Ricci ball gown Crown Princess Victoria wore for the December 2018 Nobel Prize Banquet. I love the unusual colour combination on the gown, and it’s definitely a very Victoria-esque style. Queen Silvia wore it to the Nobel Prize ceremony in 1995, which adds an extra sweet significance to the recycled look.
Brittani Barger, Deputy Editor
As Kristin said, the Swedish royals love to share their clothes, and it is common to see a royal wearing an outfit another royal has already worn – from children to adults. The most adorable rewears are the ones where Princess Estelle has worn her mother, Crown Princess Victoria or her aunt, Princess Madeleine’s clothes from their childhoods. It’s hard to choose my favourite rewear, but after much deliberation, I’ve decided on Princess Madeleine wearing one of her mother’s Nobel gowns for her wedding reception in 2013. Queen Silvia first wore the Nina Ricci beaded white gown in June 2001 before wearing it again that year for the Nobel ceremonies in Stockholm. It has pearls and crystals on the bodice and a more flowing skirt that features a satin bow around the middle. Madeleine chose to pay tribute to her mother during her June 2013 wedding reception at Drottningholm Palace and wore the gown for the evening. The media was not allowed at the reception, so there are no great photos of Madeleine in the gown that have been revealed, but the snaps from the public that have made their way to social media have shown Madeleine looking just as lovely as her mother in the gown.
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Jess Ilse, Senior Royal Reporter and Editorial Assistant
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I’m choosing the ultimate in the British Royal Family’s re-wearing possibilities: Princess Beatrice’s wedding dress, which was a revamped dress worn by her grandmother The Queen in the 1960s. When she married her Italian husband in a private, small ceremony in July 2020, Beatrice delighted the royal watchers with a touching tribute to her grandmother: not only was she wearing a dress previously worn by The Queen, but she was also wearing the same tiara she’d worn on her wedding day in 1947. What adds to the sentimentality, to me, is that this dress was designed by famed royal couturier Sir Norman Hartnell, whose designs shaped The Queen’s early fashion sense. It’s a timeless look, one that looks as modern on Princess Beatrice in 2020 as it did on The Queen in 1962.
Here she is wearing it to the premiere of Lawrence of Arabia:
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