Princess Anne’s 57-Year-Old Rewear Gives Kate Middleton a Run for Her Money

Like Kate Middleton, Princess Anne has long treated her wardrobe as a living archive. But where Kate tends to revisit recent hits, Anne reaches decades back. And at last night’s Nigerian state banquet, she dove deeper into her closet than ever before. As it turns out, Zendaya isn’t the only one revisiting her own archive recently.

The Princess Royal arrived at Windsor Castle, where King Charles III hosted President of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu and First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, in a cream silk coat dress she first wore in 1969 when she was just 18 and attending the premier of Run Wild, Run Free . Cut from ribbed ivory silk, the coat features embroidered cuffs and a whisper of beading tracing the hem. For its latest outing, Anne subtly reworked the piece by stripping away the original neckline embellishment in favor of a clean, pointed collar rendered in matching silk.

Of course, Anne understands that true evening dressing is about the finishing touches, too. She layered on the history with a suite of heirloom jewels, including the rarely seen Queen Mary’s City of London choker, a lattice of pearls and diamonds dating back to 1893. She paired the choker with diamond drop earrings gifted for her 18th birthday and her go-to Meander Tiara.

Although Kate Middleton and the late Queen Elizabeth stake claim as the monarchy’s arbiters of sustainable fashion for many, it’s actually Anne who goes the furthest back with her rewears. She consistently pulls out the oldest pieces in her wardrobe, often decades before Kate’s go-to rewears even occured. In March, she wore a brocade dress that she originally debuted at the annual Trooping the Colour in 1987.

As Anne proved, the best pieces only get better with time.