Princess Diana's 1985 Visit to Italy, Part 1

All right, it's fun and all when a royal wedding comes along, but eventually you have to get back to business as usual.  So, here we go!

Date:  April-May 1985
Place:  Livorno, La Spezia, Florence, Molfetta, Sicily, and Sardinia, Italy
Event:  Prince and Princess of Wales Official Tour of Italy

The Prince and Princess' tour of Italy was only their second major official tour together, the first having been in 1983 to Australia.  (Technically, they had one previously--a three day tour of Wales in late 1981.)  By 1985, Diana was beginning to come into her own and showed a lot of personality in her clothing.  Her tour of Italy was a very big fashion opportunity for her.

The first outfit she was seen wearing was this white striped nautical Catherine Walker suit upon arrival in La Spezia.

In reports from the time there is some confusion over whether her hat was made by John Boyd or by Kangol.  I'm still looking into it.

As the royal couple arrived on the royal yacht Britannia, Diana wore a suit and hat themed to match.  Charles, too, was in his Royal Navy uniform.  (Makes one wonder if he was in really in charge of the ship, then.)

The couple's trip lasted several weeks and necessitated quite a large load of clothes for Diana.  Here, you can see her luggage disembarking from the ship.

Diana wore this cute green Jasper Conran suit and tie as she left Livorno, just south of La Spezia.

In Florence, she wore this red suit with white polka dotted blouse also by Jasper Conran.

I love the red hose she wore--she wore them again later on the trip (see Part 2).

While still in Florence she wore this white suit and bow tie, again by Jasper Conran.

For formal wear in Florence, she chose this black and bluish-purple gown with star embellishments by Jacques Azagury.

Very 1980s!

In Molfetta, she visited a deaf school wearing this white patterned Jasper Conran dress, which she had worn previously (two years prior).

Traveling on to Sicily, Diana wore a very springy pink Catherine Walker suit and John Boyd hat.

The waistline was very flattering for her figure.

Then, in Olbia in Sardinia, she wore this light blue Jan van Velden suit and John Boyd hat.

Its waistline was not as flattering and the hat hearkened very much back to the hats she wore in her first few years as a princess.  A bit of a step back, as it were.

In fact, the Waleses trip to Italy was so long that I've had to break this blog into two posts.  Come back tomorrow for the second half and more interesting fashion choices!  Until then, thanks for reading Fashionably Royal.