Draft:Fashion of Elizabeth II



The fashion of Elizabeth II has been documented throughout her reign.

Norman Hartnell first started working for the Queen in the 1940s when she was Princess Elizabeth. He produced many evening dresses in the style that was his signature in the 1940s and 1950s: full-skirts, sumptuous silks, and duchesse satins. Hardy Amies began designing clothes for the Queen in the early 1950s and his outfits were known for their deceptive simplicity. In the 1970s the Queen awarded her patronage to Ian Thomas, who was an assistant designer to Norman Hartnell before setting up his own salon. He designed flowing chiffon dresses from the 1970s to reflect the relaxed style of the decade. Maureen Rose of the same house continued to design for the Queen after Ian's death until the late 1980s. From 1988 to 1996, the Queen's dressmaker was John Anderson. Stewart Parvin began to design for the Queen in 2000s. Angela Kelly was a personal assistant and senior dresser to the Queen, and was the Queen's dressmaker from 2002 until her death in 2022. Angela and her team tried and used both old and new fabrics when designing.

"If I wore beige, no one would know who I was" - Elizabeth II.

Pre-1940s


The outfits worn by Princess Elizabeth as a child were copied around the world.

1940s






Norman Hartnell popularised utility style clothing in response to clothing rationing during the Second World War.

In 1947, Elizabeth had to purchase the material for her Wedding dress using ration coupons, due to the rationing of clothing at the time. The dress was designed by Norman Hartnell. Hartnell's signature was said to be embroidery, and he enjoyed "working with soft, floating fabrics, particularly tulle and chiffon, and with plain, lustrous silks". The dress was made of Chinese silk, with a high neckline, tailored bodice and a 13 feet train, which was inspired by Botticelli's c. 1482 painting of Primavera. Without straps and with long sleeves, it provided a "fit and flare silhouette". On the wedding day, the dress glittered, bejewelled with pearls "skilfully combined with flowing lines of wheat ears, the symbol of fertility, and worked in pearl and diamante." Hartnell, who had been Court Designer since 1938, claimed it as "the most beautiful dress I had so far made".



1950s
After the War, Elizabeth took inspiration from Christian Dior's The New Look.

Hourglass silhouettes accented a small waist and large bust.

Coronation gown of Elizabeth II









1960s
By the 1960s, the Queen's clothing had more relaxed, loose silhouettes.









1970s
In 1970, the Queen wore trousers at a public outing for the first time, during her royal tour of New Zealand.

The Queen began to regularly wear monochromatic suits.













1980s










1990s




2010s




In the ITV documentary Our Queen at Ninety, broadcast to mark her 90th birthday, the Countess of Wessex revealed that the Queen chose bright monochromatic suits with hats for public engagements so as to stand out in a crowd "for people to be able to say 'I saw the Queen'". "Don't forget that when she turns up somewhere, the crowds are two, three, four, ten, 15 deep, and someone wants to be able to say they saw a bit of the Queen's hat as she went past," said Sophie.

Diamond Jubilee

Hats
+turbans, headscarfs

Investiture of Prince of Wales, 1969
For Prince Charles's investiture at Caernarfon Castle in 1969, the Queen wore a pale primrose yellow outfit, which included a silk crepe long-sleeved coat and matching tunic, both by Norman Hartnell. The Queen's choice of a primrose yellow silk hat divided fashion opinion, as many people had expected her to wear a crown for the occasion.

The hat, designed by Hartnell and milliner Simone Mirman, was shaped like a helmet and heavily embroidered with pearls. It had a matching panel of silk that covered the back of the head to the nape of the neck.

The Royal Collection Trust states that it 'appears to have been inspired by Tudor prototypes'. According to Michael Pick, the author of "Norman Hartnell: The Biography", Hartnell "wanted something that reflected the history of Caernarfon castle, so that's where the Tudor motif came from".

Silver Jubilee Thanksgiving Service, 1977
For the Silver Jubilee Thanksgiving Service on 7 June 1977, the Queen opted for a pink outfit by Hardy Amies with a matching rounded hat, designed by the Queen's milliner Simone Mirman.

The hat, a stylized take on a tam cap, was covered in the same pink silk crepe as her dress and coat. The fabric was stitched in closely repeated contoured lines that followed the shape of the hat and had 25 bell-shaped flowers attached to it; 25 flowers for 25 years of reign. The flowers were anchored to the top of the hat, leaving them to freely swing back and forth as the Queen moved. The 'pink-bells' were detailed with yellow stamens and green silk cord stems.

The hat caused a sensation and the response was not entirely positive. The hat drew criticism from many, including Labour politician Neil Kinnock, who mocked the accessory as "a disconnected switchboard".

Commonwealth Games closing ceremony, 1998
At the 1998 Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Queen wore a coral hat the wrong way around during the closing ceremony.

When Angela Kelly, the Queen's dressmaker, took the hat out of the box, she felt that the hat—with a commanding shell-like brim and a very large flower on the reverse—wouldn't suit her and complement the outfit. She raised her concerns with the Queen, to which the Queen did not agree. Kelly suggested that the Queen wear it back to front, and could ask the Duke of Edinburgh for his opinion as "he always tells her the truth". After consulting the Duke, the Queen decided to wear the hat the wrong way, as Kelly had suggested.

State Opening of Parliament, 2017
At the 2017 State Opening of Parliament, the Queen wore a blue day dress, instead of traditional ceremonial robes of state and the Imperial State Crown, as the ceremony was conducted in a "dressed-down" manner, due to the snap general elections held earlier that month. The Queen accessorised the outfit with a matching hat by Stella McLaren, which had five blue flowers with yellow cores stitched to the front, which some believed resembled the EU flag. As the Queen was known for sending coded messages from her wardrobe, many interpreted that the Queen was endorsing the European Union and opposing Brexit, at a time when the UK was in negotiations with the EU over Brexit. Buckingham Palace did not comment on the issue. Later in her book, Angela Kelly, the Queen's dressmaker said that the hat's resemblance to the EU flag was a pure coincidence.

In 2018, the Queen wore the same hat when welcoming President Trump to Windsor Castle, but the flowers had been replaced by a ribbon.

Handbags






Shoes

 * 1
 * 2
 * 3
 * 4
 * 5
 * 6

Australia
The Queen has regularly worn yellow during her visits to Australia, ever since her first visit in 1954. On the first evening engagement of the 1954 tour in Sydney, the Queen wore the Golden Wattle dress by Norman Hartnell, which was made from mimosa gold tulle and embellished with twinkling sprays of golden wattle, the national flower of Australia. In the official Australian portrait of the Queen, Wattle Queen, Sir William Dargie painted the Queen in this evening gown by Hartnell.

For a children's rally at Manuka Oval in 1954, the Queen again wore a wattle yellow dress with a hat made of wattle sprigs and grey-green foilage. For the 1974 tour of Australia, she wore a dress and cape of bright yellow silk-chiffon, embroidered with sprays of wattle, by designer Ian Thomas.



The Queen also owns a Wattle brooch, which was gifted to her by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on behalf of the Government and people of Australia on her first visit in 1954. Made of platinum, and set with yellow and white diamonds, the brooch is in the form of a spray of wattle, and tea tree blossoms. The Queen has worn the brooch many times on her visits to Australia, for instance, at the Randwick Racecourse in Sydney in 1970, Sydney Opera House in 2000, and during her arrival to Canberra in 2006 and 2011, or to Australia-related events in Britain.

Canada


In the role of the state personified, the Queen has worn clothing symbolic of Canada. For instance, during her 1957 visit to Ottawa, the Queen wore to a banquet held at Rideau Hall the Maple-Leaf-of-Canada dress; it was a pale green satin gown, edged with a garland consisting of deep green velvet maple leaves appliquéd with crystals and emeralds. Afterwards, the dress was donated to the Crown Collection and is now held at the Canadian Museum of History. Similarly, for a dinner held in July 2010 in Toronto, the Queen wore a white gown with silver maple leaves appliquéd on the right sleeve and shoulder. Occasionally, the Queen will wear clothing designed with Aboriginal motifs and/or materials made by some of Canada's First Nations peoples. For the opening of parliament in 1977, the Queen wore a gown with gold fringes that was suggestive of an aboriginal princess and, in 2010, wore in Nova Scotia a coat trimmed with beads made by women of the Mi'kmaq nation.

The Queen also owned various jewellery pieces that are distinctively Canadian, such as two maple leaf brooches, one made from pink and yellow precious gems and the other from diamonds. The diamond maple leaf brooch was originally owned by The Queen Mother, and was first worn by the Queen on her 1951 tour of Canada, when she was still Princess Elizabeth.

To mark the Queen's Sapphire Jubilee as Queen of Canada and the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, she was presented with the Sapphire Jubilee Snowflake Brooch by Governor General David Johnston. Designed as a companion to the diamond maple leaf brooch, the piece was made by Hillberg and Berk of Saskatchewan and consists of sapphires from a cache found in 2002 on Baffin Island by brothers Seemeega and Nowdluk Aqpik.

New Zealand
New Zealand does not have a specific national dress, but Māori cloaks are often worn by people as a national symbol. Cloaks made from finely woven kiwi feathers hold great prestige and authority in New Zealand. The Queen was gifted a korowai (woven cloak) during her first tour of New Zealand in 1954, and has often worn her cloak on subsequent visits to New Zealand, including for the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1990.

The Queen owns a Silver Fern Brooch, which was given to her by Lady Allum, wife of the Mayor of Auckland, on behalf of the women of Auckland on Christmas Day in 1953. The diamond and platinum brooch is in the form of a leaf of silver fern, an important emblem in New Zealand. The Queen has worn the brooch regularly during her visits to New Zealand and to New Zealand-related events in Britain.

"Green screen" dress

 * 
 *