Jenny Packham and the Princess of Wales

No designer is more closely tied to the Princess of Wales’s evening wardrobe than Jenny Packham. Catherine has worn at least eight dresses by the London house, and the association has run for well over a decade.

The dresses on record

Two are documented clearly. She wore Jenny Packham to the Olympic Gala Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 2012, and again in a gold gown to the London premiere of the James Bond film No Time to Die in 2021.

The pattern across those appearances is consistent, and it tells you what the house is for. These are long, formal, photographed occasions. The dresses are cut to move cleanly and to hold their shape under continuous flash, which is a specific technical problem that heavy hand-beading on a fluid ground happens to solve well.

Why the house suits that job

Jenny Packham has built the label on one idea since 1988: the embellished evening gown, hand-beaded, cut to fall rather than to cling. That is a narrow brief, and three decades of working it is why the results photograph the way they do.

Beading of that density catches light from every angle, so the dress reads as luminous rather than flat on camera. The silhouettes are largely columns and softly fitted shapes, which stay legible in a long lens. And the bodices carry internal structure, so the shape holds through an evening of standing.

The house dresses more than royalty. Packham has designed for Jennifer Aniston, Miley Cyrus and Keira Knightley, and her work has appeared in the Bond films Die Another Day and Casino Royale, and on television in Sex and the City and Gossip Girl.

How to get the look

The royal formula is worth copying because it is mostly restraint. A fully beaded gown, one pair of earrings, hair back, and nothing else competing. If you want the closest current equivalents at Luxury Shoes :

• For a gold gown, Narcissus is fully sequinned from shoulder to hem.
• For an ivory formal, Symphony pairs a beaded bodice with a fluid skirt.
• For colour, Twilight is a cobalt cape gown that moves rather than glitters.
• For something more covered, Trinity has a high neckline and short sleeves.

A note on the family name

One point of confusion worth settling: the designer is the sister of the naturalist and television presenter Chris Packham. They are not otherwise connected professionally.

See the autumn winter 2026 edit, read how to style Jenny Packham, and browse the full collection at Luxury Shoes .