As Kristen Stewart transforms into style icon Princess Diana, a look at the actor's own fashion highs
Watch: Kristen Stewart transforms into Princess Diana in 1st Spencer Teaser
The first trailer for the upcoming Princess Diana biopic, Spencer, has dropped, making Kristen Stewart one of the most talked about actors of the moment.
On paper, the two women may not appear to have much in common but on the red carpet both have demonstrated their talent for dressing for themselves and not to appease others time and time again.
Diana was known for making trends rather than following them and Stewart's also been applauded for doing things her own way in the fashion arena, having mastered the art of blending couture with a nonchalant attitude for many years now.
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While many A-listers stick rigidly to dress and high heels red carpet combo, Stewart has paired battered Converse with a designer dress a number of times. On at least one occasion, she's forgone shoes altogether.
While making her way to a screening of BlacKkKlansman at Cannes Film Festival in 2018, Stewart hit headlines when she kicked off her towering Louboutins before heading up the infamous carpeted steps barefoot.
But Stewart wasn't always so confident in her style choices. In fact, she's come a long way from her Twilight premiere days.
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"Kristen Stewart been through very stages of experimentation, from very girly and chic with tailored jackets, long skirts and flat shoes during her teen years, to a more tomboyish and street style looks during the 2000’s Twilight’s era whilst simultaneously becoming the red carpet queen and often showcasing her love for Chanel who made her their muse in 2017," explains Karine Laudort, fashion commentator.
She has had to earn her sartorial credentials on the job, however. While most of us experimented with new fashion looks behind closed doors, often with questionable results, Stewart has developed her own sense of style on the world stage.
"Kristen is a new generation of fashionista, a style-chameleon who has literally developed her personal style in front of a global audience, having lived in the spotlight from an early age," explains TV & Celebrity Fashion Expert Miranda Holder.
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Holder says Stewarts refusal to conform began even in her early red carpet days when she opted for chic black monotone over girly frills for a film premiere at the age of 12.
"Through her teens she opted for pieces that wouldn’t overpower her petite frame, pale denim, mini dresses and well-cut blazers that fell somewhere between a mod with a hint of punk and a side-order of nineties girl band," Holder adds.
Nowadays the actor counts top designers as friends and is often spotted scouring her next look on the F-row, with her favourite labels including Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga, but that doesn't mean she has abandoned her edgier side.
"Kristen is a sartorial trailblazer for the new-age, her irreverence for the rule book made her a natural choice for Karl Largerfeld as she became his muse and brought the design house straight back into relevance combining her trademark uber-cool with a splash of Parisian glamour," Holder adds.
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But perhaps the most notable aspect of Kristen's style-over is the way she has grown more confident with her style choices.
One thing with Stewart is that she will do as she pleases and enjoy exploring fashion with no bounds," explains Laudort.
"In 2016, at Cannes Festival, she famously wore a Chanel couture gown with completely battered Converse sneakers on the red carpet. In 2018, during the same festival, she took her Christian Louboutin’s heels off and walked barefoot, simply because her feet were hurting (as she later revealed in an InStyle interview).
"Over the years, Stewart mastered the art of high and low fashion (i.e: wearing couture with sneakers) but ultimately to always wear what she feels the comfortable in, at any given time, and only adhere to her own dress code," she adds.
Holder believes Stewart is something of a shining example of dressing for no-one other than herself.
"She has demonstrated a rainbow of different hair colours, striking makeup and looks fabulous in a myriad of different outfits from full-on androgyny to taffeta ballgowns and everything in-between," she says.
"We love her for bringing trainers to the red carpet and removing her heels at Cannes. Kirsten reminds us that if you feel good, you look good, no matter what is expected.
"Fashion is an art form and she beautifully expresses her creativity through her clothes and inspires us to do the same.
"The world needs more role-models like Kirsten!"