She entered the marriage with jeans, a few cashmere sweaters and one long dress, plus a collection of Laura Ashley dirndls that were the Sloane Ranger uniform. Only six years later, the Princess of Wales owned more than 80 suits, 12-dozen evening gowns and 50 day dresses, plus matching shoes and clutches galore. Two meticulous women dressers labored full-time to keep it all cleaned, sorted and cataloged. Diana got to live every woman's dream of just going out and stocking up. With the early guidance of pals at British Vogue, she educated her eye and became, in time, a style setter: When Di donned polka-dot socks, they sold out nationwide. The day the astrakhan muff appeared in 1981, Harrods was stormed. Single-handedly she popularized the ruffled collar, the pearl choker and the smart suit for everyday throughout the western world. Her worth to the British fashion industry has been estimated in the tens of millions. Her style strategies are legion, but the amazing thing is that even when the getup is less than spectacular, her outfits strike the appropriate note for virtually every occasion. The tweed suit for the Scottish honeymoon. A red-spotted dress, inspired by the Japanese flag, for Kyoto. A tunic for Arab countries. Plain navy to politely fade into the background at other people's weddings. Black in the sad preseparation days, and nowadays plenty of exuberant short skirts, bare arms, womanly cleavage, cranked-up heels, cavernous shoulder bags, dark designer shades. "I wish," she once told a friend, "everyone would stop talking about my clothes." Diana, darling, dream on.

Once Diana ditched the fuddy-duddy Windsor duds, she discovered her own sexy sleekness

BUSY BODY
At first, Diana came off a tad frumpy in candy stripes (at Ascot in 1981, far left) and in a loud print for a 1983 visit to London's Royal Academy (near left). By 1985 she had developed a more tailored look, due partly to Catherine Walker.

STREAMLINED
Trim and bright was the suit slogan last year. The tangerine Catherine Walker wowed Liverpool; the pink Versace starred in Buenos Aires. For Christmas 1994, faux fur, ankle boots and a pew-perfect slit skirt got her to the church on time.

DI AFTER DARK: Year after year she 'has consistently amazed,' wrote fashion editor Sue James

SPARE
Di went dramatic at a 1995 Manhattan fete (far left) and classic, in turquoise, for a 1988 state dinner in London.

DARE
In this sexy black Stambolian in June 1994, Di bid to upstage Charles the night he admitted adultery on TV; she also showed shoulders at Cannes in 1987 (left) and in a scarlet Victor Edelstein in 1991.

Willing to take the plunge and back it up, Di has never been called spineless

TWO-TONE
The stunner Di wore to the Bolshoi's Swan Lake at the London Coliseum in 1989 was as classic as the ballet itself.

REVERSE CHIC
With knotted pearls down her spine, Di was ready for the 1985 London premiere of Back to the Future.

SILVER STREAK
Not to be outglitzed, Di made a 1985 Melbourne appearance in a lamé Bruce Oldfield—at an estimated $10,000, thought to be her priciest gown.

Thanks to a coterie of top cutters and combers, being Diana means (almost) never having a bad hair day

CHANGING THE LOCKS
The naive schoolgirl look (1981) was jettisoned, but the mid-'80s tucks and twists brought cries of incipient dowdiness from the ever-catty British tabloids. Di's 1991 crop was called a sign of sexual rebellion. Even though she spends an estimated $14,000 a year on hair care, a stiff British breeze (1982) can spoil the whole thing.

Goddess is in the details: Headbands to butterflied heels, she makes little things count

PALM READER
Once dotty for spots, Di has turned down polka-dot power since 1987. (Note the mystery note on her hand.)

GET A NET
With sometimes loopy legwear, like these 1985 butterflies, Diana made British hosiery a socko success.

WALK THIS WAY
Though her shoes are now mostly neutrals, Di once took pleasure in somewhat whimsical footwear.

IMPROVISING
With her tiara lost in the luggage during a 1985 trip Down Under, Diana rigged an emerald heirloom necklace as a headband instead.

She would look good in a sack,' said Princess Michael of Kent, herself no fashion slouch

BLACK SHEEP MAKES GOOD
A British maker sold $1 million worth of this woollies-on-wool sweater (right, in 1983). As for that year's clam diggers (above), nobody shelled out.

A COWBOY MOM
Taking the kids to Wetherby pre-prep in 1989 required a certain swagger. And where else in the course of a royal day would she get to wear those cool boots?

BLADE RUNNER
Even a quick spin around Kensington Gardens last year meant shorts to match one of her new fave baseball caps, perfect for the pre-hairdresser hours.

WALKING BILLBOARD
Dashing from the health club (in 1995), Di always throws on something loose and long to cover her hips. If it promotes Brit business, so much the better.

OVER THE TOP: Melding youthful chic with royal tradition, the princess took millinery to the max

HEADS UP
The chapeaux must go on for all royal ladies, but it took Di to make them fun again. And ubiquitous By 1989 she owned about 75.

YIPES! STRIPES!
Coincidence? Or ESP? Somehow, Diana always seems to get it right, even when she hasn't a clue whom she'll meet (little Katie Joste, at a 1993 Child 2000 reception) or what will turn up in the background.