The British sovereign called on her life unknown to the general public, offering over the years an increasingly shared wardrobe, and whose hats were the great attraction.
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In seventy years of reign, the wardrobe of the sovereign would have had time to evolve. But what characterizes it is rather its stability: it has not followed fashion in its changes, when it has become an industry carried by effective “fast food” brands and large luxury names that sell dreams. Elizabeth II rose to the throne in the 1950s, a decade where sewing still eclipsed ready-to-wear and where, to dress, you had to sew your clothes yourself or call on a seamstress. She has always remained faithful to this functioning, even though around her the outfits marked Givenchy or Zara by Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton were the subject of endless debates in the press or on social networks.
Throughout its existence, they are designers with the unknown names of the general public who shaped his wardrobe. First follower of the emblematic floral and pleated dresses of the 1930s and 1940s when she was Princess, Elizabeth then opted for tailors and ball dresses more in accordance with her status as future queen. In 1947, she married a dress with a silk train of more than four meters, imagined by the Couturier Norman Hartnell.
After his accession to the throne in 1952, he became one of his official couturiers and dresses it for state banquets and receptions abroad . For her daily outfits, the Queen called on designer Hardy Amies (until 1990), while the Modeist Freddie Fox is one of the creators of her many hats until his retirement, in 2002.
All the nuances of the rainbow
2002 is also the year Angela Kelly becomes the “personal assistant, advisor and curator of His Majesty the Queen for jewelry, insignia and wardrobe”. This divorced Catholic from Liverpool breathes a new style into the royal wardrobe. It favors united tissue rather than patterns. Under her influence, the monarch assumes her taste for color, which she carries from head to toe, in total look. All the shades of the rainbow go there, from apple green to fuchsia pink, passing through sky blue or lemon yellow.
“I mainly choose strong colors so that the queen is easily visible from afar, explained Angela Kelly in her autobiography The other side of the corner. The queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe (2019, not translated). When her commitments include a crowd bath, the size of the crown and the edge of the hat are also taken into account, because the queen is aware that people travel from afar in the hope of seeing it and that it is important that Young people and older people can see it clearly. But the crown of the hat should not be too high, so that His Majesty can enter and leave a vehicle. “
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