Queen Elizabeth II’s lifelong relationship with fashion is masterfully surveyed in Buckingham Palace’s current exhibition, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style. In our latest installment of “Objects of Affection,” Vogue’s global editor at large, Hamish Bowles, and surveyor of the King’s works of arts, Caroline de Guitaut, walk through The King’s Gallery to admire the beloved monarch’s most quintessential moments.
In addition to the clothing itself, the archive showcases rare documentation, correspondence, and fashion sketches—all of which assemble a narrative surrounding her relationship with fashion. “The great takeaway,” de Guitaut says, “is that she was deeply, deeply involved in the production of her clothing.” Take the numerous dresses by Norman Hartnell on display as an example, the queen’s most favored collaborator.
Within the exhibition is Hartnell’s iconic yellow silk tulle gown known as the Wattle Dress. It was created for her royal tour of Australia in 1954 and reveals white and yellow wattle blossom motifs to honor her first visit to the country as queen. “She always wanted her designers to incorporate something for the host nation, and this is a remarkable example of that,” Bowles explains.
Similarly exquisite inclusions in the collectsion span the queen’s lifetime—from floral cotton lawn dresses that she and Princess Margaret played in as children (crafted in Liberty London florals), to her coronation dress that, as Bowles puts it, “was greeted with rapture” by the post-war public.
Walking through the exhibition’s various rooms illuminates who the queen was and what she wanted to convey through the way she dressed. “That sense of communication with audiences was so important to her even without needing to speak,” de Guitaut says. “The clothes did so much of the talking.”
Director: Catherine Orchard
Director Of Photography: Rachel Clark
Editors: Katie Wolford, Michael Suyeda
Producer: Rashida Josiah
Associate Producer: Anisa Kennar
Assistant Camera: Louise Murphy
Gaffer: Kieran Waites
Audio: Joanna Hunt
Runner: Edie Chesters
Groomer: Nadia Altinbas
Production Coordinator: Tanía Jones
Production Manager: Kristen Helmick
Senior Production Manager: Venita Singh-Warner
Line Producer: Natasha Soto-Albors
Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow
Post Production Coordinator: Holly Frew
Supervising Editor: Kameron Key
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Executive Producer :Rahel Gebreyes
Senior Director, Digital Video: Romy van den Broeke
Senior Director, Programming: Linda Gittleson
VP, Video Programming: Thespena Guatieri
Images Courtesy of © Royal Collection Enterprises Limited, Royal Collection Trust, Jon Stokes, Paul Bulley, Roger and Faye Dargie
Filmed on Location: The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace
