Why Princess Diana avoided wearing Chanel after divorce with Prince Charles

Princess Diana’s marriage to Prince Charles was brought to a crashing end following the latter's affair with his ex-girlfriend Camilla Parker Bowles.

And while the Princess of Wales was hailed as one of the most influential style icons of her time, there was one brand that she strictly kept herself away from for a heartbreaking reason: Chanel.

Owing to its double C logo, Diana was always reminded of her ex-husband’s affair with his ex-girlfriend while the two were married.

Designer Jayson Brudson spoke to Harper’s Bazaar Australia about his experience working with Diana back in 1996.

"After [Joh Bailey] had finished her hair she had to get ready for a hospital visit and she said I'm going to wear a cream Versace skirt suit. It was a very fitted jacket and pencil skirt, and she said, 'but I don't know what accessories to wear with it,’” he recalled.

"She came out holding like handfuls of shoes and bags and just dumped them all down on the couch. Then said, 'What do you think?', so I went through them all and I found a pair of Chanel shoes, and I said, 'Well these would look great with the Versace,' and she said 'No, I can't wear linked Cs, the double C.' So I asked why, and she said, 'It's Camilla and Charles.'"

"It was definitely the timing, it being post-divorce. She would have seen linked Cs and they would have just reminded her of Charles and Camilla. The shoes were quite boldly Chanel, I think they had gold linked Cs on them. And I think for photo optics, people would have honed in on that considering it was so fresh after the divorce as well,” he said.

Princess Diana after discovering her husband was having an affair with Camilla, separated from him. In an interview she gave after the divorce to BBC, Diana had said: "There were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded."