The late Queen Elizabeth II’s fashion life has barely been touched on despite all the thousands of words written about her — presumably fashion is considered too ephemeral and trivial compared to her role as Mother of the Nation.
And yet, her fashion journey holds lessons for all women. Not only about how our style needs to be re-thought as we grow older (and possibly thicker around the waist) but why style should take precedence over trends.
Looking at her style across seven decades, the late Queen started well and ended well, with a bad patch in the middle years. Young, slender, vivacious and beautiful in the 1950s, she embraced the glamour of the era, wearing white mink and shimmering, strapless ballgowns.
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The Queen in 1951
The 1960s was an era of growing informality in clothing and hairstyles that was entirely at odds with royal protocol. In addition to expecting formality and dignity, the monarch required visibility, compelling HM to wear not entirely flattering off-the-face hairdos and hats.
It is believed that further royal wardrobe complications arose through issues of loyalty to certain British couture houses.
While it was widely conceded that off-duty, in the apparel of a country woman — tweed, Barbour and that famous headscarf — the Queen looked comfortable and endlessly stylish, it is clear from photos that she lost her step fashion-wise in the 1970s and 80s.
queen in barbour jacket getty
The Queen in one of her beloved Barbour jackets
Then in 1993, along came her new dresser Angela Kelly to if not save the Queen, help her rediscover her style. Out went frills, twee prints and waistlines; in their place came softly tailored pieces in waistline-skimming cuts and in solid-colour from neckline to hemline.
These are clever styling tricks to create the illusion of greater height, which, given the Queen’s petite five-foot, three-inch frame, worked spectacularly well.
It may possibly also have concealed a thicker waistline, though the woman who knows —her inconsolably sad corsetiere of 40 years Rigby & Peller’s ex-Wizo and Bromley Synagogue member, June Kenton— is far too discreet to tell.
The perfect finish came from milliner Rachel Trevor-Morgan, who from 2006 onward produced a series of exquisite hats with a small brim that flattered the Queen’s face shape while still showing her face.
