REPORT BY HELLO! ROYAL CORRESPONDENT JUDY WADE
Her teeth are more pearly, her
face softer and her wardrobe has
changed from country tweeds to
couture. Camilla Parker Bowles has
undergone an amazing transformation
over the past few years.
In the 1990s, while she stayed on the
sidelines of Prince Charles’s life, she
was more often snapped in down-at-heel
loafers and old, patterned socks. A
world accustomed to dazzling Diana
felt Camilla could never fill her Jimmy
Choo shoes.
In 1992, soon after her affair with
Charles was revealed, one newspaper
sniped: “She always looks as if she
had just stepped off a horse. She never
wears make-up and doesn’t care too
much about clothes.”
Her friend, novelist Jilly Cooper, put
this down to a lack of vanity. “When
you stay with her, she wanders around
at breakfast in her dressing gown,
wearing no make-up and her nail
varnish is chipped.”
All that was soon to change, starting
around 2001 when it became clear that
her position in the Prince’s life was
“non-negotiable”. Accompanied by
Charles’s friend Antonia, the Marquess
of Douro, Camilla attended Chloe’s
spring show in Paris. Suddenly a world
of wonderful fashion opened up and she began buying big-occasion
clothes from designers like Anthony
Price.
Where once for an important party
she’d have chosen a strapless ballgown
– a fashion disaster for women of a
certain age – she began covering her
shoulders and arms with black lace
cocktail dresses with lowish necklines
which showed off her cleavage. By
day, she chose soft pastel suits which
flattered her fair colouring.
One fashion expert says: “She got a
lot of help because fashion houses
like Valentino, Versace, Armani and
Chanel began offering Camilla the best
items from each new collection. If she
decides to wear some, Prince Charles
always pays because he doesn’t want his
future wife accepting freebies.”
Over the past few months, Camilla
has also been steadily losing weight –
over a stone, by some estimates. But
an updated wardrobe and a slimmer
figure are only part of the new-look
Camilla. For years she has been a
client of top London colourist Jo
Hansford, who keeps her blonde hair
carefully streaked with highlights.
Jo, who also counts Elizabeth
Hurley and Angelina Jolie among her
clients, says: “Camilla’s hair is very fine
and can be difficult to manage, which
is why I use bleach to give the hair
body and oomph.”
As she made final preparations in
the week before her wedding, Camilla
was seen emerging from Jo’s Mayfair
salon with a scarf hiding her hair. Jo
told HELLO!: “I put a mix of creamy
and honey blonde highlights through
her hair using L’Oréal colour.
“I always advise brides to keep to
their natural look, not to veer too far
from a style with which they feel
comfortable. That way they can concentrate
on enjoying their day and
not worrying about their hair.
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