Countless videos about Princess Anne’s bold vintage fashion and her knack for recycling her outfits has earned her a whole new legion of fans on TikTok
Celebrating turning 75 today, Princess Anne has been given the unexpected title of ‘Queen of Recycling’ by TikTokkers who regard her as a fashion icon – despite her famous declaration that she would not go near social media “if you paid me.”
Gen Z can’t get enough of the accidental fashionista, who has released a picture to mark her birthday wearing a colour-block navy dress with white trim, which she was first pictured in at The King’s Foundation Awards at St James’ Palace in June.
Countless videos about the Princess Royal are getting thousands of views on TikTok, where influencers admire her bold outfits from the 1970s and commend her for recycling clothes – making them look fantastic at royal engagements 50 years on.
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Back in the 70s and 80s, Anne’s formal style consisted of brightly coloured tailored dresses and long, flowing floral gowns. Off duty, she often wore traditional country casuals, such as jeans and statement scarves.
And for one Tik Toker, Simon Glazin, who has an account dedicated to royal fashion from around the world, Princess Anne is a firm favourite.
Of her latest picture, he says: “I think we know by now that Anne is a superstar of the British Royal Family, Pictures and videos of her always show her smiling and having a sense of fun.
“And what a perfect dress too – demure yet statement, something she does so well, and one of her favourite colours – navy.
“We know she’s the queen of recycling her looks, and whilst most of us can’t wait to buy something new for birthday celebrations, she has chosen to re-wear this dress from June this year.
“In June she wore it with matching blue gloves, but I much prefer it without. It’s a great colour on Anne.”
The fashion blogger, who has almost 48,000 followers, regularly posts about Anne – with one post on her top five recycled looks receiving more than 100,000 views.
He says the vivid colours, bold prints and sleek tailoring, she wore in the 1970s established her as a trendsetter and, by rewearing outfits, she is now grabbing the attention of the younger generation. He explains: “What I love about her is it seems she is a bit oblivious that she is a fashion icon. Or if she does know it is a genius move.
“Definitely back in the 1970s, she wore some incredible stuff. There is an iconic picture of her where she is wearing this blue striped shirt with jeans with this amazing belt buckle and this necktie, which could be on the cover of Vogue right now.
“The 70s was definitely her era, but what is interesting about Princess Anne is that she will bring something back from the 70s and wear it now.” It is the sustainable element of her style that resonates with the TikTok generation.
Simon says: “From my TikTok I see the comments from people when I talk about Princess Anne and they are usually from younger people talking about how they never knew she recycled clothes.
“Because we now live in this very green conscious world, younger generations are really into recycling stuff with second-hand shops and thrift shops.
“When I did a video on her old 70s looks, the comments were overwhelming. They were all saying ‘I didn’t realise she wore this’, ‘I didn’t realise she had it in her’, ‘I didn’t know a royal could dress like that’. The comments are always from younger people saying ‘I would wear that now’.”
Prestigious Italian fashion house Fendi even remarked on her sustainable style, calling her “the chicest woman in the world” and praising her ability to “underline garments for life, not use and throw away”.
And Strictly host Claudia Winkleman said her wardrobe for the latest series of TV’s The Traitors was inspired by the princess.
Simon adds: “Most recently, she has been seen loads wearing these really cool Adidas ski sunglasses, and she was really ahead of the curve wearing them. It was really funny because you then saw them starting popping up on catwalks.
“There was this most incredible white, floral, to the floor dress she wore that had boho vibes with long sleeves with frills over it and oversized print over it, which is very now.
“There’s also an outfit from a village fete, where she nipped in her waist and wore a little cap sleeve, she did that quite a lot and this shirt dress vibe is very now too – we’ve seen it at Chloe and Celine on the catwalk.
“I think more than anything, we all love Princess Anne because you could imagine her not giving two hoots what people think. Like Princess Margaret, they both knew they weren’t going to be Queen, so I feel like this allowed them to do this.
A Californian TikTokker, posting as Allie – The Royalty Nerd – has 73,000 followers and posts saying she “loves” Anne’s 70s’ style, raving about the dress she wore when she became engaged to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973.
“It is so beautiful. The dress would also make a cute wedding dress nowadays too,” she posted, adding: “Anne also keeps her clothes forever and often rewears things which I really appreciate.”
London-based fashion expert Miranda Holder, who has 178,000 TikTok followers,is also an enthusiastic Anne supporter. She posted:”There’s been some epic fashion – and there still is – from Princess Anne, and there is a lot we can learn from her I salute you Anne, you are indeed a great fashion icon.”