Prince Harry’s fashion rejection is his own style

Clothes convey status and status; At Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September, Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his military rank and embroiled in a scandal, was barred from wearing traditional ceremonial military dress. Clothes speak honor and formality: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in the Netflix documentary “Harry and Meghan” during the reign of Elizabeth II, as the members of the royal family should not wear the same color as the queen in public events. Costumes have created visible rebels even when walking: Princess Diana famously broke court dress and dress codes – wearing turtlenecks, un-British clothes and red nail polish – when she stepped out with her in-laws.

So it’s also important when a recluse prince says he doesn’t care much for clothes.

Prince Harry’s new book, ‘Exchange’, made headlines this week for what he described as inappropriate royal revelations about his life. In one story, Harry mentioned that he used to shop for his everyday clothes at discount retailer TK Maxx. (Part of the US TJ Maxx, slightly changed in name to avoid confusion with the former UK retailer TJ Hughes). So did Harry As a student at Eton College, he wound up late for class thanks to an elaborate school uniform, and growing up, he continued to wear a pair of laceless shoes, often scrambling to replace his shoes. “I didn’t normally think about clothes. “I basically didn’t believe in fashion, and I couldn’t understand why anyone would,” he says in the book. “Reporters would flag my photo and wonder why my pants were so long and my shirt was so wrinkled. … They say it’s not too noble. You’re right, I think.”

Arguably, the men of the British royal family are under less pressure to look eternally handsome than their female counterparts. But still: Prince Philip can always be trusted to nail the mismatched. Broken clothing. King Charles III has a loyal double breast. Even Prince William, whose personal style is relatively conservative, has made the summer linen dress his signature.

On the other hand, who among us can remember details Any Prince Harry chose to wear a Nazi military Halloween costume in public In the year Was he in trouble in 2005? Compared to his royal cousins, Harry’s clothing choices seem less conspicuous. A visual symbol that separates himself from his family? for sure. And of late, it seems like one more sign that he doesn’t participate in the culture of letting his clothes do the talking.

During his press tour for “Accessories” — and for that matter over the past few years — Prince Harry’s wardrobe has been notably muted, lacking many attention-grabbing touches of either the good or the bad variety. The “What Meghan Wore” blog, which tracked Harry’s wife’s wardrobe choices and informed shoppers where to buy the same or similar pieces, is now trending heavily on Instagram. But on his website, one can still find a page called “Harry Ware”. In a perfect and almost comical contrast to Meghan’s Manolo Blahniks and custom Louis Vuitton, the page features affordable and tasteful Everlane shirts, Adidas Gazelle sneakers and the 7 for All Mankind chinos Harry wore in the late 2010s.

“In the years since Harry and Meghan stepped down from their royal duties and moved to the United States, Harry’s rebellious formal tendencies have become more apparent. Harry wore a black turtleneck over a white oxford shirt during his “60 Minutes” interview with Anderson Cooper on Sunday. On “Good Morning America” ​​and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” over the weekend, Harry was dressed in smart gray suits and an untucked blue shirt — only slight variations on the ensemble he wore for his explosive interview with wife Oprah Winfrey in 2021. (Instead of bonding over TV shows like his father and brother, Harry wasn’t equal to all of them.)

“Harry and Meghan,” released last month, finds Harry sitting down for an interview in a cotton collar and logo-less long-sleeve polo. In the smartphone footage, which was filmed at their Sussex home in seaside Montecito, Harry wears nondescript clothes – mismatched solid-coloured tees with jeans or plain, light-coloured athletic shorts – as he walks his dog, works on his laptop and kicks a football. A ball (sorry, soccer) with the boy riding on his shoulder.

“If you’re looking for fashion statements, look elsewhere in my family,” Harry’s clothes always seemed to say; Recently, one more “truly. I’m a regular California dad now. Quietly eerily, Harry looked like many men in the West who worked office jobs and frolicked in backyards with their children on weekends. And for someone who grew up in an environment that almost goes against that idea, that’s a statement of its own.

Harry isn’t really a typical California dad. But by dressing like one, by wearing clothes that almost project no In their own messages, Harry creates the ideal conditions for achieving his goal, such as the “Spare” book – which, he told Colbert on Tuesday night, “is to tell the other side of the story 38 years later.”

In the interview, Harry emphasized that the traditional way of conveying messages is indirect, with the family motto being “never complain and never explain”; Instead of telling the truth directly to reporters, the royals plant stories from anonymous sources or leak them through their press offices. Or, perhaps, convey it through their body language – or fashion choices. The book itself is Harry’s rejection of that culture. “I’m the source of that book,” he told Colbert. “Instead of hiding behind anonymous sources, these are my words from my own lips.”

Harry’s wardrobe choices, in other words, effectively prove that the clothes aren’t the story. Instead, his story remains history.