What, this old thing? Princess Anne and the art of repeat dressing

Let's not for one minute suggest that Princess Anne's decision to dig out the dress she wore to her brother's first wedding in 1981 for another family wedding 27 years later was remotely connected to thriftiness. Anyone who can afford a designer dress, and has the space to store decades worth of posh clothes in palatial wardrobes, isn't too concerned about her bank balance. No, Anne's decision to recycle - or, to use the appropriate fashion parlance for this phenomenon, to repeat - a floral print piecrust-edged wrap dress is actually a common fashion practice. Repeating works when you are a Hollywood star keen to rebut the accusation that you are a profligate, neurotic clotheshorse who can't conceive of wearing the same thing twice. It also works when you can faultlessly reinvent a look with a subtle stylistic twist, such as adding a new accessory. But it doesn't work when, as Anne demonstrates, you unthinkingly repeat an outfit almost exactly, decades on.

In 1981 she wore the dress with a yellow floral and net hat, and accessorised with pearls. Fast-forward to this weekend and she's wearing the same hat and yet another pearl choker. This isn't just a sartorial aberration either - the princess has form in repeating outfits without imagination. A blue-and-white dress worn to a film premiere in 1986 was trundled out again with the same white gloves 14 years later. A bonnet was worn twice 17 years apart, each time without irony.

Anne could easily turn this faux-pas around. She is right that floral prints and frills work again this summer, but the key to making the look modern would be gladiator sandals, not pearls.

With the autumn collections just about to land on the shop floors, those seeking to repeat items from their own wardrobe would do well to dig out their favourite looks from the early to mid-80s. The goth look is back, courtesy of French power-labels such as Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy. Similarly, lace is a huge trend again thanks to Miuccia Prada, and this presents Princess Anne with a unique opportunity to regain her fashion kudos. While most of us might be able to dig up a tatty lacy blouse, circa Like A Prayer, Anne may well have access to Queen Victoria's back-catalogue of lace dresses. And anyone able to update one of those has some serious fashion acumen.