Princess Kate stepped out at the Festival of Remembrance in a look that elegantly echoed Princess Diana’s iconic style.

The Princess of Wales looked strikingly similar to Princess Diana in a new look (Image: Getty)
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Princess Kate looked radiant as she stepped out on Saturday evening for the Festival of Remembrance. The Princess of Wales, turned heads in a sleek black look, as she was accompanied by her eldest son, Prince George.
The future King, 12, appeared to be stepping in for Prince William as he returned from a five-day environmental visit to Brazil and Belém only hours earlier. Despite the Prince of Wales’s absence, the Princess delivered one of her most evocative fashion moments of the year – one that subtly honoured both the late Queen Elizabeth II and, unmistakably, Princess Diana.
Kate wore an elegant black Alessandra Rich dress featuring a dramatic oversized white contrast collar.

Princess Kate stepped out in a black Alessandra Rich dress that featured a white collar (Image: Getty )
The silhouette instantly recalled a look once worn by the late Princess Diana in the early 1980s during the London Film Festival. Diana’s own gown, designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel (the duo behind her wedding dress), featured a sweeping velvet piece with a show-stopping lace collar.
While their fabrics and contexts differ, the shared design code between the two gowns – the bold neckline, the romantic lace trimming, the quintessential early-royal-era femininity, is simply impossible to ignore.
Where Diana leaned into theatrical glamour, Kate’s interpretation was modernised through sleek tailoring and minimalist accessorising. Yet the homage was crystal clear: an echo rather than a replica, and a reminder that fashion has always been one of the most powerful forms of royal storytelling.
The Princess further paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II by accessorising with the late monarch’s beloved Bahraini pearl drop earrings.
Princess Diana stepped out in an Emmanuel gown back in 1981 as she attended the London Film Festival (Image: Getty)

Princess Kate was joined by her eldest son, Prince George, the future King on Saturday evening (Image: Getty)
She completed the look along with a delicate cross pendant that added a polished, spiritual touch to the ensemble.
Her look also underscored something both Kate and Diana championed long before “sustainable fashion” became a buzzword: the belief that clothes are meant to be reworn, reimagined, and treasured.
Diana regularly restyled her most iconic pieces, and Kate has long followed the same philosophy, proving that cultivating a lasting wardrobe is far more elegant than chasing a never-ending carousel of newness.