The Zara effect: Aussie designer joins royals in the inner sanctum

Australians are a more common sight riding horses at Royal Ascot than trading air kisses inside the Royal Enclosure, but on the opening day of the prestigious carnival, designer Rebecca Vallance found herself in curtseying distance of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Last year the Ballarat-born designer was present in fabric only: Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall, wore a Rebecca Vallance collared midi dress in pale blue. On Tuesday Tindall wore a custom lilac dress from the label, but dragged Vallance away from the closet, bringing her inside the Royal Enclosure.

“I’m endlessly inspired by moments where women embrace the art of dressing,” says Vallance, who launched her label while living in London in 2011. “Royal Ascot represented that commitment to creativity and tradition.”

With Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie increasingly absent from royal events, as the scandal surrounding their disgraced father, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and his connections with Jeffrey Epstein lingers like a Pimms stain on white satin, Tindall’s profile has grown. Prince William and Princess Catherine skipped the opening day races, making the former equestrian even more prominent at Royal Ascot.

Tindall has worn Rebecca Vallance several times over the past year, most recently at the wedding of her brother, Peter Phillips, and Harriet Sperling this month.

“It’s so gratifying when someone continues to return to the brand,” says Vallance of Tindall’s commitment to the label. Tindall attended the brand’s launch at Harrods’ London flagship store in 2023.

“Relationships are built over time and are a reflection of shared values rather than any single moment.”

Queen Camilla and King Charles, in an example of complementary couple dressing that would rival the Beckhams, wore gentle spring tones. In a bespoke pale blue Anna Valentine dress with floral embroidery, the Queen accessorised with the 18.8-carat Cullinan V brooch, recently worn at the White House on a state visit to the United States in April.

Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester, a standout at Trooping the Colour this month in diamond clips from a bandeau tiara, continued her style streak, wearing a woven sinamay hat by Finley Howie, a graduate of the King’s Foundation Metiers d’Art Millinery Fellowship program.

The Danish-born duchess has become a firm supporter of the program, a partnership between the foundation and Chanel, wearing a hat by a former graduate, drag-queen-turned-milliner Barnaby Jones, last year.

Proving that Royal Ascot is not immune to the same fancy-dress fashion approach that often intrudes