The late Princess Diana kept a “caring dress” in her wardrobe – a Bellville Sassoon shift in the most uplifting shade of cobalt blue, splattered with bright watercolour carnations.
She called it so, according to its designer, David Sassoon, as it was the dress she would reach for when visiting children (particularly those in hospitals around the world) in an attempt to bring some colour and joy to any ward she stepped into.
Fast-forward to March 2024 and adopted the same as she joined story time at a children’s hospital in Los Angeles. Her take on the “caring dress” was a £2,776 Oscar de la Renta chiffon style, the hem of which featured a floral landscape with bold stems shooting up towards the waist.
If the silk seemed a precious choice for an engagement with children, it didn’t stop Meghan from hugging and posing for photos with patients and staff. It wasn’t a new addition to her wardrobe; this is a piece that she wears at home with her own children, . In those clips, she was barefoot in the family’s Montecito garden, her son Archie’s feet kicking around her waist as she carried him (and arguably adding some authentic mud to the picture).
Diana’s “caring dress” was also a designer number. She rewore hers on several public occasions after it was created for her in 1988: on visits to Lagos in Nigeria, in São Paulo, Brazil, and also while visiting a London Aids hospice. The repetition served to reiterate her point that bright colors and florals appealed to her audience. The press at the time goaded her, apparently telling the Princess to “give the dress a rest”.
“She would say, ‘I keep being told not to wear it, but I love this dress, my caring dress,’” designer Sassoon previously. “Of course Diana was the first member of the Royal family to break all the rules.”
“She happened to wear that dress when visiting a hospital, and children seemed to clamor round and like it. If you are like the Princess of Wales, who loved children, you don’t want a strictly formal suit for a hospital visit. You pick a very informal dress with bright colors, which that dress was. The reaction is one of awe from young children.”
For Meghan, some 35 years later, the floral dress feels markedly different to the . As she prepares to launch her new lifestyle business, American Riviera Orchard, perhaps we will see a new chapter begin in her fashion playbook; the wholesome floral dress could be linchpin in any “trad wife” look.
Her choice of a garden scene feels fresher than that, though. Consider the landscape look the easiest way to move on the perennial print this year – John Lewis, & Other Stories and plenty of other high-street stores have alternatives to help you achieve the style without the £3,000 price tag.
Three to buy
Landscape dress, £249, , Cloud print dress, £65, Collared dress, £39.99