{"id":203725,"date":"2026-04-20T19:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/203725\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T19:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:50:14","slug":"inside-queen-elizabeths-fashion-journey-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/203725\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Queen Elizabeth’s Fashion Journey, Legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe biggest exhibition in history of Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s<\/a> fashion is on display now at Buckingham Palace<\/a>, and while it may include the expected grand designs for state occasions and the Norman Hartnell coronation and wedding dresses, the show also opens a unique window on the inner life, and style inspirations, of Britain\u2019s longest-reigning monarch.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere is a sweetness and mystique to \u201cQueen Elizabeth II<\/a>: Her Life in Style,\u201d which opened earlier this month and runs until Oct. 18 at The King\u2019s Gallery at Buckingham Palace. <\/p>\n

\n\tMore than 300 items are on display, many for the first time, including baby bonnets from the queen\u2019s childhood; a Lanvin gold lam\u00e9 dress beloved by the young Princess Elizabeth; and the lineup of Hartnell jewel-toned velvet coats that were a declaration of independence from her mother\u2019s more romantic style.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show offers so much insight into the public and private life of the late monarch, and that\u2019s just what curator Caroline de Guitaut, surveyor of the King\u2019s Works of Art at Royal Collection Trust, was aiming for.<\/p>\n

\n\tDe Guitaut, who has spent more than 30 years at Royal Collection Trust, the charity that cares for one of the world\u2019s greatest art collections, has curated fashion exhibitions and written books about the late queen\u2019s style, but she says this show is like no other.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt not only celebrates the centenary of the queen\u2019s birth in 1926, but also marks the official transfer of the monarch\u2019s fashion archive \u2014 including designer sketches, fabric swatches, and accounts, including a an original invoice from Burberry for purchases and services ordered in 1966 \u2014 to the Royal Collection.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s also the first time that de Guitaut has had a full view of the queen\u2019s wardrobe, which means \u201cwe\u2019ve really been able to build up a complete picture of the queen\u2019s relationship with fashion throughout her life. We\u2019ve been able to explore the big moments \u2014 wedding, coronation, jubilees \u2014 and everything else in between.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Evening<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tEvening gown by Norman Hartnell from 1957. It was worn to a state banquet for President Eisenhower at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.
\nin 1957.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRoyal Collection Trust<\/p>\n

\n\tShe sorted through 5,000 wardrobe items and memorabilia from couturiers, designers and dressmakers including Stewart Parvin, Ian Thomas and Angela Kelly, and from labels such as Burberry and Bernard Weatherill. She also catalogued the queen\u2019s footwear, including brogues by Lobb and Church\u2019s, riding boots by Maxwell and Schnieder, and childhood ballet slippers and baby\u00a0shoes.<\/p>\n

\n\tDe Guitaut said the research was partly a treasure hunt, as in the case of the Hartnell \u201cwattle dress.\u201d The queen wore the yellow gold, silk tulle dress adorned with sparkling gold wattle \u2014 acacia flower \u2014 motifs, for her first visit to Australia in 1954.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Australian artist Sir William Dargie painted her in the dress and its matching stole, and there are many images of the queen wearing it on the tour, but the unique piece was thought to be lost.<\/p>\n

\n\tDe Guitaut says she\u2019s spent decades looking for it, and even the queen could not recall what happened to it. \u201cSo, imagine my thrill and delight when I opened a box and inside, delicately wrapped in tissue paper, was the stole that went with the dress,\u201d says de Guitaut.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe\u2019s positioned the stole alongside Hartnell\u2019s original sketch for the wattle dress, which was part of an album of sketches he made and sent them to the queen. \u201cShe kept it among her personal possessions for the rest of her life,\u201d says de Guitaut.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring her research, she came across many other treasures that shine a light on the queen\u2019s early years and young adulthood.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere was a note in her handwriting, which I found alongside two baby bonnets from the 19th century. According to the queen the bonnets were worn by her and by Princess Margaret, and she wanted them to be carefully put away. It is just one example of how she wanted\u201d certain things to be preserved for posterity, says de Guitaut.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe curator also discovered evidence of a budding fashion lover. One of the displays is a gold lam\u00e9 Lanvin dress that Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, ordered from the Paris couturier. It even came with a little doll which had its own mini trousseau.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA Harris Tweed jacket and a Balmoral tartan kilt from the 1950s.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTodd-White Art\/ Photography \/ Royal Collection Trust<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPrincess Elizabeth obviously loved her dress so much. You can tell it has been worn on multiple occasions, and that she clearly adored it because someone has very carefully added an extra panel of gold lam\u00e9 fabric around the hem to lengthen it, to allow her to continue wearing it. Maybe it had got a little bit too short,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe early love of fashion blossomed, and it wasn\u2019t long before the young princess was calling the style shots. De Guitaut says she came across four velvet jewel-tone Hartnell coats that showed how Princess Elizabeth\u2019s own tastes were quickly diverging from her mother\u2019s love of powdery pastels and frills.<\/p>\n

\n\tDe Guitaut says the princess was around 18 or 19 when she started making her own orders from Hartnell.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was clear that she wanted to have a very distinctive look, and that desire coincides rather beautifully with the impact of [Christian Dior\u2019s] New Look,\u201d says de Guitaut. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe curator says the queen made it clear to Hartnell that she wanted to wear \u201cstronger, darker colors,\u201d in contrast to her mother who was a lover of soft grays, pale blues and lilac, and so he delivered the bold coats.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cClearly Princess Elizabeth wanted to do something rather different. Then, of course, she began branching out and started working with Hardy Amies. She was independent-minded, and wanted to create her own style,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s an attitude the queen adopted throughout her life.<\/p>\n

\n\tDe Guitaut argues that, during public engagements, the queen \u201cused her clothing to deliver those wonderfully obvious, yet subtle, messages as a form of communication,\u201d color-coding her outfits to match those of host country or wearing symbols \u2014 such as the wattle dress in Australia \u2014 to demonstrate understanding and respect. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was not just the designers having the bright ideas and good suggestions. The queen was absolutely making decisions in dialogue with the designers,\u201d says de Guitaut, adding that while the queen worked with her couturiers she was, ultimately, \u201cthe decision-maker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Caroline<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCaroline de Guitaut, curator of \u201cQueen Elizabeth II<\/a>: Her Life in Style.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy photo<\/p>\n

\n\tIn private, the queen still took a rigorous approach to fashion, wearing tailored clothing, luscious Scottish cashmere and Irish Aran sweaters. Off-duty, though, her attitude was more practical, relaxed \u2014 and green.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s a kilt in the exhibition paired with a beautiful tweed jacket with quite a strong check. And, of course, it\u2019s kind of clashing, but it\u2019s also rather wonderful. I first saw a picture of her wearing it in the early 1950s, and she continued to wear it throughout her life,\u201d says de Guitaut.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe skirt is quite worn, but in a way, I wanted that to be visible because we know that she re-wore things multiple times. Now that we have all the documentation from the archives, we\u2019ll be able to pinpoint every single occasion when a certain ensemble was worn over multiple decades,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show doesn\u2019t end with the queen\u2019s life. <\/p>\n

\n\tDe Guitaut has tapped contemporary creatives to show just how enduring the monarch\u2019s style is. She asked three London designers, Erdem Moralioglu, Richard Quinn and Christopher Kane, to contribute one of their past pieces, inspired by the queen, to the exhibition. Each ensemble is shown alongside a related item from the late queen\u2019s fashion archive.<\/p>\n

\n\tRoyal Warrant holders, and notably Burberry, have also created tribute capsule collections or items to go with the show. <\/p>\n

\n\tBurberry\u2019s capsule is inspired by the queen\u2019s countryside wardrobe and includes a cotton gabardine car coat in iridescent holly green, and a silk twill scarf printed with a hand-painted depiction of Balmoral Castle, the British royal family\u2019s home in the Scottish Highlands, and a gold-plated brooch in the shape of a corgi.<\/p>\n

\n\tLong live the queen\u2019s style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The biggest exhibition in history of Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s fashion is on display now at Buckingham Palace, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,1312,122,124,123,17603,74980,80596],"class_list":{"0":"post-203725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queen-elizabeth-ii","12":"tag-queens","13":"tag-queens-headlines","14":"tag-queens-news","15":"tag-wwd-weekend","16":"tag-wwd-weekend-arts-culture","17":"tag-wwd-weekend-fashion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}