Power dressing

LARA OWEN looks at a centenary exhibition celebrating Queen Elizabeth II's fashion style

- LARA OWEN

QUEEN Elizabeth II was far more involved in designing her wardrobe than many might have realised personally directing hemlines, embellishment and even fabric choices for major overseas tours.

A new exhibition marking the centenary of her birth reveals that the late monarch’s famously composed public image of brightly coloured coat dresses and intricately embroidered evening gowns, was the result of decades of careful collaboration with Britain’s leading couturiers.

Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style opens at The King’s Gallery, in Buckingham Palace, London, on April 10, bringing together around 200 garments and related items in what is the largest exhibition ever staged of her clothing.

Spanning 10 decades, the show charts her evolution from young princess to the longest-reigning British monarch, exploring how fashion became one of her most powerful tools of communication.

For curator Caroline de Guitaut, exhibition curator and surveyor of the King’s Works of Art, examining the archive was a revelation.

"I was surprised by just how closely involved she was," she says. "There's so much evidence of her directing the details hemlines, embellishment and so on. It was clearly a very symbiotic relationship”.

The public memory of the late Queen is often distilled into a single, instantly recognisable image a block-colour coat, matching hat, sensible shoes and handbag. That ensemble was developed over decades to ensure she could be seen clearly during walkabouts and large public events.