'A menswear icon': How King Charles became the best dressed royal
It’s good to be the King. Along with seeing your face on money, having a June public holiday for your November birthday in Australia and setting off a Mexican wave of bows and curtsies every time you enter a room, people finally look past the ears and see you as a style superstar.
Since his coronation in May last year the reputation of King Charles as a fashion influencer has picked up speed.
Charles, the king of fashion, at his May coronation last year.Credit: Getty
“Charles is an icon with an innate sense of style,” says Jeremy Hershan, founder of Haulier and winner of the National Designer of the Year award. “He wears tailoring particularly well and is always at ease in his clothes.”
Hershan had the opportunity to witness Charles’ discerning eye first-hand while working on Saville Row for esteemed British tailors Gieves & Hawkes, which has held a royal warrant since 1809.
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“He would come in with the boys and was always very personable with the team and well-liked,” Hershan says. “You have to admire his skill with his unexpected colour combinations.”
Unlike his mother Queen Elizabeth, who favoured bright, block colours, Charles combines stripes, checks and textural weaves for maximum impact. The combinations change, but the main ingredients remain the same.
“The real reason he is a menswear icon is his thriftiness,” Hershan says. “There are jackets, suits and shoes the man has owned for years. With patches and repairs they have become works of art in their own right.”
The King of sustainable dressingWhile Princess Catherine keeps select pieces on rotation from her on-trend wardrobe and the King’s sister Princess Anne bravely ignores fashion by returning to outfits from the ’70s or ’80s, Charles has stealthily mastered the art of sustainable dressing.
“A staple is a classic double-breasted knee-length overcoat in heavy tweed with a peak lapel that looks great on him,” says menswear stalwart Joe Farage.
King Charles’ coat of many decades worn in 1986, 1999, 2008, 2010 and 2023.Credit: Getty, AP
The coat from Anderson & Sheppard, with generous patch pockets, has been worn regularly by the King since 1986 and is alternated with a camel coat on official outings.
For Prince Harry’s 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle the King wore the same grey Anderson & Sheppard morning suit he took to the Melbourne Cup in 1985.
“In the case of that particular morning coat, as long as I can go on getting into it, I only wear it a few times a year,” Charles told British Vogue editor Edward Enninful in 2020.
Designer Kit Willow, founder of sustainable label KitX, applauds Charles’ green approach to dressing.
King Charles attending the Melbourne Cup in 1985 wearing a morning suit from Anderson & Sheppard and at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018.Credit: Bruce Postle, Getty
“He is completely committed to sustainable dressing and understands that we can’t sustain current levels of fashion production and need to regenerate and circulate,” Willow says.
The King of casualCharles’ growing reputation as a fashion leader is not all about suits and coats.
“When Charles was younger, there were standout moments with safari jackets on trips to Australia and cowboy hats with a bolo tie on a visit to Canada,” Hershan says. “He knew how to dress for the occasion on visits to the colonies.”
The many looks of King Charles: in cowboy attire visiting Calgary, Canada in 1977; polo chic in 1986; full safari suit in Cameroon in 1990. Credit: Getty
Charles’ wardrobe of polo tops, rugby shorts and casual sweaters worn as Prince of Wales has inspired pieces in the collection of preppy US label Rowing Blazers, founded by rower Jack Carlson.
“Any picture of Charles on the polo pitch shows him at his most natural, his most effortless,” Carlson says. “Charles is a paragon of men’s style.”
Former radio host and architecture and safari suit enthusiast Tim Ross acknowledges the King’s clever use of investment pieces, but sees the dapper result as a triumph of style over sterling.
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“It’s easy to think that with power and wealth, ‘of course he’s going to dress well’,” Ross says. “But his brothers had the same opportunities and tend to dress like a single dad at a Parents Without Partners barbecue in the ’80s.”
It’s always better to be King than just a prince.
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