What Princess Diana Gave Us
No matter what year you were born, everyone thoughtfully remembers the late Diana, Princess of Wales. She remains the most talked about woman in pop culture. Growing up, my mother adored the fairytale spectacle that was Diana's life. Outside of my story books, she was my first real princess. Unlike the childhood versions, her story never seemed as whimsical or happily ever after. But, she seemed unlike any fairytale princesses. In fact she broke the everlasting mold. Princess Diana lived as an independent woman who under the perverse eyes of paparazzi had no choice but to find it within herself to move on. And isn't that what all women do (regardless of a swarm of cameras following you)? We look back at her legacy as the People's Princess and the ways she shaped us and the everyday values we live by today.
LOVE
Not every man is a Prince Charming, and for Princess Diana, she was challenged with keeping up appearances in order to hide a failing marriage and a broken heart. As seen in photographs, masking the heartache wasn’t easy. When you lose once at love, it doesn't mean that you give up on it. She showed us that we should never stop looking for love. It's there.
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
The happiest she looked in photos was when she was with her kids. As any mother would attest that mother and child bond is unbreakable. In the HBO documentary, Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, it didn’t come as a surprise to watch rare footage of her standing up to the paparazzi during a ski trip with her boys. Famous or non-famous, Princess Diana just did what any mother would do to protect her children.
COMPASSION
A golden rule that my dad instilled into me is also the same character trait that Princess Diana has left behind. No matter what you do in life, always help people. The 1980's were known as the era of greed when Wall Street was king, cars were status symbols and white powdered substance addictions were the norm of the days. Here she was traveling to the trenches and showing the world the other side of life, the toxic landfills and those who had to suffer along with it. She made the homeless visibile to the public eye and brought the AIDS epidemic to the forefront. Where there was greed, Diana took the farthest route from it to help those in the most unfortunate circumstances. She practiced kindness and wasn't afraid to console the sick or those struggling in the most unfortunate circumstances.
DON'T GIVE UP
I've watched enough documentaries and trolled Google to the fullest on all things Princess Diana and what I take from her legendary existence is that you never give up. When you fall, you just get back up. When you don't feel like facing everyone, put on something really pretty to distract. When the world is being cruel to you for no apparent reason, remember that there's people suffering and that will always matter more. Enter George Michael (another great legend and close friend to Diana) singing "you've gotta have faith."
THE FASHION
Princess Diana was by far the most memorable style icon. Unprecedented and quite style-forward for her time, we could say that she introduced athleisure to the world, one baseball cap, biker shorts and oversized blazer at a time. The way her style choices were sometimes used as a shield or a loaded gun (metaphorically of course), she influenced casual wear, business attire and high-end designer fashion to be a power move.
Women like her and Jackie Kennedy Onassis were just born with wonderful taste and understood what looked good on their body and how it made them feel. By today's standards, she was fashion's first "It Girl" with her loyal ties to designers, even her workout clothes appeared all too chic (again, the true inventor of athleisure?). Mostly, Princess Diana carried herself with the utmost forced confidence, no matter how she was feeling on the inside. She was or rather still is, the epitome of timeless.
