That the Princess of Wales towered over most other figures on the international fashion scene was never in doubt; after all, she had the natural advantage of above-average height. An impeccable size 10 figure and a fondness for three-inch heels also helped to ensure she was always clearly visible in a crowd.
Of late, she appeared to have become comfortable with her own body, but, as tales of eating disorders throughout the 1980s indicate, such was not always the case. Nor indeed was her status as a fashion icon.
Early images of the princess when she first came to public attention show a very different woman to the one seen of late. Before her marriage, in the days when she minded young children in central London, she dressed like any other girl of her circle. The unofficial uniform of her circle tended to consist of floral print skirts, white blouses trimmed with broderie anglaise and comfortable sweaters; clothes which could move easily between town and country life. At the announcement of her engagement to the Prince of Wales, she was dressed in clothes which could just have been worn by the then Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher - a bright blue suit and polka dot blouse with pussycat bow at the neck. It entirely covered up her figure, while the fact that she was taller than Prince Charles was played down by putting her in a pair of flat shoes and on a step lower than his.
Then came the wedding dress designed for her by David and Elizabeth Emmanuel. A vast confection of ivory taffeta looped and caught in an array of ruches and bows, it was much admired at the time but soon came to be seen as vulgar and overblown.
The 1980s was not a kind decade to the princess, either in relation to her personal life or her personal style. As she grew thinner, her hair and shoulder pads became correspondingly larger. Clearly obliged to support the British fashion industry, she was often seen in dresses and suits which reflected her mother-in-law's rather frumpy taste more than her own.
A large number of these outfits were sold by Christie's in New York last June to raise money for some of the Princess's favourite charities. They also provoked a lot of wry smiles at their sheer awfulness and suggestions that only drag queens would be interested in wearing such creations as Bruce Oldfield's unflattering dance dress in spangled red silk chiffon or Zandra Rhodes's 1986 baby pink chiffon dinner dress.
Gradual separation from her husband seemed to increase the princess's confidence in her own taste. At the same time, she began to favour London-based designer Catherine Walker, who was sympathetic to her requirements and made the most of her natural attributes. Instead of attempting to play down her height, the Princess of Wales started to wear higher heels and shorter skirts and over the past few years, these became the hallmarks of her personal style. Her preference during the day was for dresses stopping well short of the knee, frequently teamed with matching jackets nipped in at the waist and fitted close around the shoulders. These were usually in pastel shades, while stronger shades were kept for night. Her hair was cut closer to the head and given a sporty, relaxed look. She made the most of her well-toned body by exposing more and more of it; evening dresses were often backless and without sleeves. Last month, photographs of her wearing a leopard print swimming costume while on holiday with the al-Fayed family in St Tropez showed the benefits of so much time spent working out at the gym. Simplicity of line and colour were clearly what she liked best. Her dresses were usually understated sheathes cut to emphasise a slim figure. Aside from Catherine Walker, her other favourite designer of late was Gianni Versace, whose funeral she attended in Milan earlier this summer. She was photographed wearing items from his latest collection for the July issue of Vanity Fair.
But couture clothes were not her only style. As visits earlier this year to Angola and Bosnia showed, she could look equally fresh and smart in a pair of jeans and a mannish shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The essence of her style was that its sharp-edged crispness steadily became less English and more American. It is surely no accident that she often tried out new looks in the United States, such as slicking back her hair for a dinner in New York two years ago, or wearing a bias-cut gown by John Galliano last December for the opening of the Dior retrospective in the same city. Eventually more Ivana Trump than Queen Mother in her dress sense, she nonetheless had finally managed to create her own distinctive style.
Was she a fashion icon? Not if that means acting as an influence on other people. Aside from her infamous wedding dress, no outfit worn by the Princess of Wales has been widely copied. Elizabeth Hurley or Madonna probably encourage more emulation if less adulation. But certainly the princess was an inspiration for all women by showing it was possible to look wonderful even while under-dressing. After wearing some of the worst excesses of the 1980s, this was a lesson she first taught herself. Starting as an archetypal Sloane, she ended as the epitome of international chic.