Princess Diana's Style & How Kate Middleton Measures Up (VIDEO)

"Good Morning America" took a look back at Princess Diana's style and how her looks compare to those of one Catherine Middleton.

We know, we know -- it's not that difficult to say, "Diana once wore a red skirt suit and Kate recently wore a red skirt suit," but we thoroughly enjoyed watching the evidence flicker across our screens.

Robin Roberts also chatted with designer Amanda Wakeley and fashion writer Plum Sykes. Sykes said, "I don't know if this is true but I have an Alexander McQueen wedding dress with an extremely long train and supposedly she saw pictures of it and supposedly Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen is making the dress, but I don't know if that's true because I ask them all of the time and they won't tell me. They're not allowed."

When asked for her thoughts on the gown, Wakeley remarked, "It's a State wedding. There has to be a huge amount of grandeur attached to it. So I don't think it will be a pretty, boho, country-style wedding. It will be a grand dress, or, maybe a coat and a dress." We rather like that idea (said with our best British accents).

***For more royal wedding news, visit our Royal Wedding page.***

WATCH:

Comments

[ARTIST50]

08:13 PM on 04/27/2011

Both of these women are lovely, we don't need to turn it into a contest. Diana grew into one of the most stylish and beloved women on earth in her lifetime, let's let Kate blossom - she certainly has a great deal of poise for a 30 year old. I can't imagine my every move being watched and photographed - I think Diana managed amazingly well with her very public life and I hope the world will give Kate a little slack.

[Nana Amani]

07:58 PM on 04/27/2011

Please stop the endless comparison to the late Princess...just stop!

[TheStilettoarmy]

03:19 AM on 04/27/2011

There seems to be a ton of negativity about this comparison... Funny. Did anyone ever think how slightly endearing it it is to pay such homage to a seemingly lovely woman. Seems to me poor Katie couldn't win here, if she behaved like a cheap american she would be criticized. If she behaved like a beloved princess, she gets criticized...
Tough crowd...

[Kittenesque]

11:57 PM on 04/26/2011

Kate doesn't measure up. Never will. Nobody ever will, especially not Kate. I would have respected her more if she didn't try so hard to copy Diana's style.

There are stars (the lucky cause a prince looked at their direction only when one strutted in a see-through dress), superstars, and then there are supernovas (Diana who glowed from within because of her spirit).

[agness nutter]

01:06 AM on 04/27/2011

There were some slight problems with Diana being mentally unstable and having rather more lovers than the average Princess of Wales. The very last thing Britain and the monarchy need is another Diana.

[Kittenesque]

02:06 AM on 04/27/2011

I don't think people labeling a wronged-wife "mentally unstable" makes her one. She has lived a public life and we all know she was far from mentally unstable. Depressed? Yes. Wanting to be loved? Absolutely. You would be too if the man of your dreams did that to you. Why should she not have affairs when he clearly left the marriage? She has more of a catch than Charles could ever hope to be. She didn't out-do Charles little list now, did she? Or that of any other Prince of Wales. Why are the rules different for the woman? Wasn't it enough that she became the family sacrifice at 19?

[wolfiegirl]

07:40 PM on 04/27/2011

Diana was treated terribly. But she was no prize, and I always thought, as you said, a borderline. She was a lost soul all around, and I do feel sorry for her. She raised two wonderful men, but people forget that for the past 14 years Charles was their sole parent. And both boys have remarked that they love Camilla.
Kate may not be a fashion plate, but that's not what is important when considering a good partner for the future monarch. It's also good that people do not treat her with "adulation" but rather, hopefully respect.

[Brautigan]

07:20 AM on 04/27/2011

I forget who it was who said it, but it was someone who knew Charles and Diana very well. He said that when they were married, Diana loved Charles, and that the same could not be said the other way around.

Sad.

[Kittenesque]

01:39 PM on 04/27/2011

Agreed. He even cried in the wedding because he was doing the "right thing" by not marrying Camilla. The fact that he was ruining a bright-eyed girl's life meant nothing.

[Kellybelle22]

11:38 PM on 04/26/2011

To my American southern eyes, Kate seems to have studied, very thoroughly, the styles of Princess Di and all prominent princess consorts, first ladies, and other statesmen's wives who've been visible these last three decades. Then she's taking it mostly very safe--and still with just 7 - 10% too much embellishment in some small way.

We'll see someone else emerge stylewise as soon as both the wedding and her next birthday are beyond her. A woman has to mature into what she's comfortable with, and in young women, I don't believe that style emerges until she's around 30. I so want her to be joyously happy in this marriage because I think we'll see that in the way she carries herself and in how her fashions evolve.

[Jansue]

11:19 PM on 04/26/2011

I feel sympathy for Kate. WHY does she have to be compared to a dead woman? Why did Wills give her the engagement ring from his dead mother from a failed marriage.instead of buying her what she wanted. I hope that this marriage will not be Wills, Kate and Wills dead mother. I hope that Wills will refrain from comparing Kate to his mother.

[lioness39]

05:09 PM on 04/28/2011

You have a very valid point.

[Killya]

08:22 PM on 04/26/2011

"Facts" are all incorrect. Complete erroneous fabrication by "journalists" who did no research.

Lady Diana Spencer started trends the moment she was first photographed.

Diana wore an outfit and it sold million copies long before the official engagement. Anyone remember the sheep sweater, the Sloane Ranger look? All Diana. Never before seen outside of aristocratic English circles. She brought in pearls, chokers, initial necklaces sailor dresses, ruffled collars before her wedding. Her haircut alone was copies by millions around the world.

Diana STARTED trends that were unique to her own style.

Kate simply follows the trends of others. All her clothes are being worn by anyone in her age group. There is no need to shop to pull out a flimsy stretch jersey dress.

The fascinator has been popular in Britain long before she wore it, actually, it was popularised by Andrew and Anne's daughters at Ascot long before Middleton.

The entire video is misinformation.

[theredqueen]

08:55 PM on 04/26/2011

So very fanned,

[Kellybelle22]

11:23 PM on 04/26/2011

Except for the decidedly unfortunate return screen name, which is as angry and ugly as we've yet seen. MsNancyMitford and Wishfulslinkings were at least not self-named as aggressively. The site ought to have a policy against implicit or explicit threats, I think, even in names.

[Godfrey Curmudgeon]

07:53 PM on 04/26/2011

What a bag o' bollocks. I wanted to know her measurements.

[mmgbizgirl]

07:36 PM on 04/26/2011

Kate seems to have a lightness like Diana. He picked a girl like his mother. That's wonderful.

[tattytiara]

07:17 PM on 04/26/2011

How creepy must it be for Prince William to have the media constantly comparing his lover with his mother?

[agness nutter]

11:40 PM on 04/26/2011

Which would be worse, to have his lover compared to his mother, or to his nanny?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1331069/Prince-William-actually-marrying-nanny-Tiggy-Legge-Bourke.html

[tattytiara]

12:14 AM on 04/27/2011

Oh that poor freaking man. Good luck on the wedding night there, Willie!

[Brautigan]

07:22 AM on 04/27/2011

Wow, I had no idea. That's creepy.

[theredqueen]

06:49 PM on 04/26/2011

Diana should rest in peace. Her innate kindness would not wish her children's spouses to suffer by comparison. She knew the cruelty of that.

[Riley33]

05:50 PM on 04/26/2011

She has also started the Fascinator Trend. Should be big in North America soon!
http://www.e-forwards.com/2011/04/kate-middleton-and-the-fascinator-chicks/

[deweydecimal]

11:12 PM on 04/26/2011

Fascinators have always been big in the UK.

[stylejacking]

04:35 PM on 04/26/2011

They are very similar but whether it is because they both have that classic English rose style or Wills has picked a girl like his mother I dont know. Kate is much more capable of dealing with the press though, she is much older and wiser. I read this article and it was quite interesting as a comparison http://stylejacking.com/2011/linked-by-a-sapphire-and-a-son-kate-middleton-and-princess-diana/

[theredqueen]

05:14 PM on 04/26/2011

I find them nothing alike.

[nana4g]

06:31 PM on 04/26/2011

Same here. Any woman would be hard put not to ever wear a red suit because Diana wore one.....These comparisons are really silly. And unnecessary.

[NatTurner1]

04:32 PM on 04/26/2011

I hate comparisons like this. Its like comparing Derrick Rose with Oscar Robertson.

[nana4g]

06:34 PM on 04/26/2011

The only really significant comparison should be between William and his father as a potential husband. I think William is NOTHING like his father when it comes to being a husband. Or, for that matter, how he conducts and will conduct his life. His father always seemed so bored and aloof, and as though it was all so tedious and such a burden, thoroughly self centered. All of William's choices are totally opposite to those of his father's.
There's a real story.

[TheStilettoarmy]

03:15 AM on 04/27/2011

I beg to differ. Have you ever seen " the man who would be king" a documentary about charles? Or his environmental film "harmony" I have to say, I used to feel the exact same way about him until I actually "looked" at him...
You might feel differently. Also I will say it again - marriages fail in palaces just like they do in a "commoner's' world.

[annasophie1228]

03:00 PM on 04/26/2011

no comparison, two totally different women - lovely in their own right.