Take a Walk Through Queen Elizabeth II’s Most Rare and Revered Fashion Pieces

A current exhibition at Buckingham Palace deftly explores Queen Elizabeth II’s lifelong relationship with fashion, Queen Elizabeth II: her stylish life. In our latest issue of Objects of Affection, FashionKing’s Gallery global editor-at-large Hamish Bowles and King’s Art Appraiser Caroline de Guitaut stroll through the King’s Gallery to view some of the beloved monarch’s most iconic moments.

In addition to the clothes themselves, the archive also displays rare documents, letters and fashion sketches – all of which build a narrative around her relationship with fashion. “The biggest takeaway,” de Guitaut said, “is that she was deeply involved in the making of the clothes.” Take, for example, the many gowns on display by the Queen’s favorite collaborator, Norman Hartnell.

Hartnell’s iconic yellow silk tulle gown, called the “Wattle Dress,” is on display in the exhibition. It was designed for her royal tour of Australia in 1954 and features a white and yellow acacia flower pattern to commemorate her first visit to the country as Queen. “She always wanted her designers to incorporate something for the host country, and this is a great example of that,” Powers explains.

The collection’s equally sophisticated pieces span the Queen’s life – from the floral cotton lawn dresses (made from Liberty London flowers) she and Princess Margaret wore as children, to her coronation gown, which, as Bowles puts it, “sent the postwar public into ecstasy.”

Walking through the rooms of the exhibition, you can get a sense of who the Queen is and what message she wanted to convey through her outfits. “Even if she doesn’t have to speak, a sense of connection with the audience is very important to her,” Deguito said. “Clothes speak volumes.”

Director: Catherine Orchard
Director of Photography: Rachel Clark
Editors: Katie Wolford, Michael Sujeda

Producer: Rashida Josiah
Associate Producer: Anissa Kenard

Assistant Cameraman: Louise Murphy
Head Coach: Kieran Waits
Audio: Joanna Hunter
Runner: Edie Chesters
Beautician: Nadia Altimbas

Production Coordinator: Tania Jones
Production Manager: Christine Helmick
Senior Production Manager: Venita Singh-Warner
Producer: Natasha Soto-Olbers

Assistant Editor: Finn Lithgow
Post-production coordinator: Holly Frew
Supervising Editor: Cameron Key
Post-production supervisor: Alexa Deutsch

Executive Producer: Rahel Gebreyes
Senior Director Digital Video: Romy van den Broeke
Senior Director of Programming: Linda Gittleson
Vice President of Video Programming: Thespena Guatieri

Image © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited, Royal Collection Trust, Jon Stokes, Paul Bulley, Roger and Faye Dargie

Filming location: King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace