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Quite outside all the accomplishments of an extraordinary life and reign, Queen Elizabeth II was a bona fide fashion icon. Usually, being dubbed a fashion icon makes one seem somehow less “serious” a historical figure, but here the Queen breaks the mould. Her use of fashion as a method of visual communication supported and signalled the very seriousness of her role in modern history.
The Queen liked, and enjoyed, fashion. She understood its power. She hired wise advisers, from Norman Hartnell, her mother’s favourite designer, to Savile Row tailor Hardie Amies, and then the engineer of her smash-hit, monochromatic senior style of the past 30 years: her dresser Angela Kelly.
The Queen demonstrated the power of a consistent message, staying loyal to her signature accessories — Launer top-handle handbags, clear, matching-colour-trimmed Fulton umbrellas and ever-present pearls. But she kept with the times, too, announcing via Angela Kelly in 2019 that she would no longer wear new fur.
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born a princess, first born of the Duke and Duchess of York, but was not expected to be queen. She was, however, a source of great excitement and fascination to the public. Her first official portrait, with a pony, naturally, was taken at age 4. From the age of 10, when her uncle, Edward VII, renounced the throne to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson, the spotlight became a permanent part of her life.
The Queen Mother liked to dress young Elizabeth and Margaret in matching clothes, often making Elizabeth look younger than her years. The young princesses became a key part of the palace’s effort to reimagine a monarchy tarnished by the abdication, and idyllic photos of George VI’s nuclear family became a publicity centrepiece of that effort. During the war, the family modelled stoicism and duty, Elizabeth donning a car mechanic’s suit for her role in the war effort.
But it was Elizabeth’s wedding to Philip Mountbatten that was her first huge fashion moment. Britain was still under war rationing in 1947, so she had to purchase the fabric for the dress with coupons. Thousands of Britons tried to donate their own ration coupons to the Princess; she thanked them all, but did not accept them.
Nonetheless, Princess Elizabeth delivered a history-book-worthy gown, designed by Norman Hartnell and made of Chinese silk in a fit and flare silhouette. Wedding dresses before this point, especially during the war years, had been more modest affairs. But the era of the big-deal white bridal dress was ushered in by Elizabeth’s fairy-tale wedding, and her marriage lasted 73 years until Philip’s April, 2021, death.
After a scant few years as a young bride accompanying her new husband to Malta during his naval posting, Elizabeth was called to her destiny on the death of her father in 1952. It was on a royal tour to Kenya with Philip that the new Queen learned of her ascension; black mourning clothes needed to be brought to Africa for her to greet her Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, at Heathrow in proper garments. To this day, senior royals now travel with black mourning clothing, just in case.
The 1953 Coronation Gown was an even more important garment in the Queen’s life. It took Hartnell eight months to execute the design of this gown, which included spectacular and intricate embroidery featuring symbols of her realm, the Canadian maple leaf among them. (The Queen also treasured a diamond maple leaf brooch, which she wore on her visits to Canada and loaned to members of her family, including Diana, Princess of Wales, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; the brooch was passed down to her from her mother, and was originally a gift to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon from her husband, King George VI.)
As a new Queen and young mother, Elizabeth wore British designers exclusively, to help rebuild the industry after the war. That tradition continued for her to present day. So even as her glamorous sister, Margaret, wore the era-defining New Look of Dior, the Queen approximated the style of the day in a more restrained, and very British, manner.
The Queen kept a fit-and-flare look through that period, and her signature haircut — the one that transitioned through various printings of her profile on banknotes and coins around the Commonwealth. Remember, middle-aged women in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s looked very different than what 30-, 40- and 50-year-olds look like today.
The Queen, by 1964 a mother of four, settled into a long period of not wildly exciting but incredibly “appropriate” dressing. The ’60s minidress and flower power revolution in London passed her right on by, as did the ’70s hippie fashions and ’80s Dynasty regalia. She kept on keeping on on the fashion front, though she turned up the wattage for major palace balls and foreign visits: No one will ever work a sash and tiara as well as Queen Elizabeth. She knew how to put on the glitz.
She also invented a whole genre of outdoors fashion: the kilt, mac, Wellington boots and Hermès scarf worn over the head look she wore while riding horses or walking the moors at her beloved Balmoral or Sandringham estates. The Queen’s “off-duty” look is instantly recognizable and will last forever.
But it is the Queen’s final sartorial chapter, beginning around the time she turned 65, that made the biggest fashion waves. The bright and bold monochromatic dresses and coats in all the shades of the rainbow made the Queen a bold figure who stood out in a crowd — and turned her into a fashion groundbreaker.
Her stoicism, poise and dignity imbued the array of lime, daffodil and cotton candy pink garments with gravitas. But with her wit, she made the image of a senior woman cool. She was never anyone’s little old lady: The bold clothing gave her her groove back, too.
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