Royal fans are eagerly awaiting the new regal fashion exhibit, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style, which opens at Buckingham Palace on 10 April. The extensive offering, which is the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of the late Queen’s fashion to ever be presented, takes place at The King’s Gallery, the place she was christened, before the chapel was destroyed in the Blitz.
Caroline de Guitaut, Surveyor of the Queen’s Works of Art at the Royal Collection Trust, is the mastermind behind the exhibition and exclusively told HELLO! that the monarch was “elegant, restrained and appropriate,” and that she “absolutely followed fashion.”
© Bettmann ArchiveQueen Elizabeth II adored the art of fashion
Pockets of style
Elizabeth’s outfits were meticulously selected and designed, and one signature add-on that was always thought of was the humble pocket. The sizes were crafted according to what she would be carrying that day.
© Getty ImagesQueen Elizabeth II’s pockets were planned out
“Pockets are finished in different ways, depending on what she put in them. The cotton-lined ones were more durable; the silk-lined ones might have been for riding gloves. There was a hierarchy of pockets,” Caroline mused.
One memorable pocket moment that illustrates this was back in 2019, when the then-93-year-old monarch smiled brightly in a portrait, which showed her posing casually with her hands in her pockets. The dress featured deep-set pockets at the side, allowing her to look more ‘free’ in the photograph.
Elizabeth’s heritage
The collection starts with two little-known bridesmaid dresses that Elizabeth wore in the early thirties, one with striking frills on the shoulders that gave the young Princess the air of an angel.
© Royal Collection TrustPrincess Elizabeth wearing her bridesmaid dress for the wedding of her uncle Prince George, Duke of Kent to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark in November 1934
She wore it for the wedding of her uncle, Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark.
Caroline says that the bridesmaid dresses are among her favourites because they are “so lovely and touching and so unknown”.
Queen Elizabeth’s wedding dress
The late Queen’s most memorable fashion moment came on 20 November 1947, when the public got their first view of her Chinese-silk wedding dress with its 15ft star-patterned train.
© Topical Press AgencyElizabeth wearing her wedding dress in 1947
Anticipation had reached such a frenzy that the designer of the dress, Norman Hartnell, whitewashed the windows at his salon in Bruton Street, Mayfair, in case someone glimpsed the gown. “He was so nervous that the embargo would be broken that he went to the Queen,” Caroline says. “He said that he and his team were on standby to create an alternative.”