This controversial outfit taught Princess Diana a valuable lesson

young diana
(Image credit: 2007 Anwar Hussein)

There are many, many iconic outfits that Princess Diana is known for, and it's no surprise, given how much scrutiny she was under, that they got so much press.

She once wore a strapless dress that made so many headlines that they had to delay the Budget by a day. Her honeymoon looks got a lot of attention too, and of course, who can forget the 'revenge dress', which she wore to the Serpentine Gallery summer party in 1994, the same night Prince Charles admitted to having an affair with Camilla.

But perhaps one of her most talked-about and controversial looks of all was one she wore when she was still relatively unknown, but was starting to get hounded when it was revealed she was dating Prince Charles.

diana controversial outfit

(Image credit: Steve Back)

Photographers were so insistent on taking her picture that to get them off her back, 19-year-old Diana invited them to take sone snaps at the Kindergarten she worked at in West London.

Unfortunately, she didn't realise that from the angle she was standing at, with the sun behind her, her skirt became see-through, giving everyone a glimpse of her legs.

And while it was only the shadowy outlines of her legs, it still made all the front pages, much to Diana's surprise (she later said, 'I don’t want to be known as the girlfriend who had no petticoat').

She would later learn all the wardrobe tricks to avoid getting caught out by the paps, including holding a clutch bag over hear cleavage when exiting cars.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.