Come With Me to the Queen Elizabeth II Fashion Exhibition
A look inside the largest-ever display of the history-making monarch’s wardrobe.
Of all the ways one could mark the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, I find it immensely fitting that the Royal Collection Trust chose to do so with the largest-ever display of her wardrobe.
Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style opened this month at the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace. This blockbuster show, which is sold out for weeks, is teeming with more than 300 items from the late monarch’s wardrobe. There are pieces from each of her 10 decades, spanning the Victorian-era gown she wore for her christening to the Angela Kelly coat she donned for a balcony appearance to mark her Platinum Jubilee.
For a sovereign who famously said “I have to be seen to be believed” it is a heartening tribute: The story of her history-making reign told through what she wore.
“The queen found her own style, creating a look that became instantly recognizable to a global audience and which, in its elegance and also in its idiosyncrasies, would inspire a generation of future fashion designers” — Curator Caroline de Guitaut
I made a special trip to London to attend a press preview as well as the opening day of the exhibition. Today, on what would have been the centenary of the queen’s birthday, I am excited to share with you the first of two newsletters taking you with me through the display.
Below, you will find an overview with insights from the curator as well as three aspects of the exhibition I can’t stop thinking about. Stay tuned for a room-by-room tour, with very SMT-inspired details on some of my favorite pieces. Throughout both installments, you will find a host of photographs taken by Victoria Metaxas; I am immensely grateful for her efforts on our behalf.
Whether you have seen the exhibition yourself or followed along on social media, I would love to hear your thoughts (and questions, too!). I will meet you in the comments.
So Many Thoughts on Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style
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On a sunny Friday this month, I queued up outside the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace before it opened. Once through security, I quickly handed my coat to the cloakroom attendant then dashed up the stairs (in heels, such was my commitment) to the exhibition. I bid the fastest of hellos to a series of historical garments — Princess Elizabeth’s christening dress, her military uniform, her wedding gown — and took a quick beat to admire the towering display of her daywear. Inside the largest-ever exhibition of Queen Elizabeth II’s clothing, my sights were set on the room filled with glamorous evening wear, stately uniforms, smart coats and (gasp) her coronation gown.
The attendant standing in the doorway gave me a curious look. I explained I had seen the much-anticipated display the day before and wanted to spend a few moments, if I could, in the room that held her coronation gown. With a smile, he told me to enjoy it, adding: “It’ll be quite full soon.”
These few adrenaline-inducing moments came together by thinking (and hoping!) in advance. Back in November, when tickets to the exhibition went on sale, I booked the first time slot wondering — though by no means certain — if I could make a special trip. I later asked, and received, an invitation from the Royal Collection Trust to one of several press previews. British Airways generously provided me with a Club World ticket — the stars aligned! I was able to see the clothes not once but twice.
As someone who has studied the queen’s style for many years — and written a book about it — it was thrilling to see so many iconic garments for myself. There is so much craftsmanship in these pieces that photographs, especially from decades go, cannot possibly capture. The detail is just beyond.
I also found it wildly affirming to see the monarch’s story told this way. There is still a lingering propensity in certain corners of our cultural landscape to dismiss any sort of fashion, particularly in its bolder forms, as a distraction or a frivolous pursuit. And yet, here is a blockbuster exhibition showing its power, not in one moment but across an entire life. There are her candy-colored coats, her hats brimming with embellishments, her voluminous and heavily adorned gowns. Queen Elizabeth’s public persona, amongst the people in her presence and in photographs disseminated across the globe, was shaped by her wardrobe.
At the close of the press preview, I had a few minutes to chat with the exhibition’s curator, Caroline de Guitaut. When I asked her what she wanted people to take away from the exhibition, she told me: “My main hope is that visitors will be surprised by the fact that the queen paid so much attention to fashion.”
Exhibition Overview
Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style is made up of more than 300 pieces of clothing and accessories, along with sketches, notes, and fabric samples. The exhibition is divided into four sections. Only the first is arranged chronologically, opening with her earliest days as a princess and building to her wedding day in November 1947. The next three are assorted around a theme. There is a small collection of her country clothing followed by a room of her diplomatic dressing, including glamorous gowns and stately tour attire. It closes with her rainbow-colored daywear, as well as her accessories and a few eye-popping jewels for good measure.
The items on display are a fraction of the 4,000-piece style archive the queen left to the Royal Collection following her death in September 2022, at the age of 96. They are now cared for by the Royal Collection Trust, the charity that welcomes visitors to royal palaces and cares for over a million items with ties to the British kings and queens.
“You can imagine that making the selection has not been without its challenges,” remarked de Guitaut at the press preview. “The idea, in principle, was to include works by most of the most important designers, couturiers, suppliers who’ve worked with the queen throughout her life.”
There are pieces from all ten decades, an assortment only possible thanks to some impressive foresight. “The queen’s fashion archive has been very carefully preserved,” notes de Guitaut in the exhibition audio guide. “Even when she was a child, her mother had a real understanding of preserving memories and preserving pieces of clothing that were worn on significant occasions.”
Stay tuned for a room-by-room tour of the exhibition, zooming in on my favorite pieces. But first: three broader aspects of the exhibition that struck me most.
The Quantity of Fashion
This is a staggering number of outfits. I have been to several other exhibitions in this gallery and so often clothing has been a component rather than a focus — a gown scattered amongst the artwork and objects, say. This is more akin to the fashion-themed stagings at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The volume tells the bigger story here, underscoring how important clothing was to the queen’s duties.
“It was very important to me to give visitors a really rounded sense of the queen’s wardrobe,” de Guitaut said. This “very large group of material…enables a visitor to understand the different requirements of the queen’s dressing.” It also underscores that clothing had lots of different meanings for her, de Guitaut continued, “enabling her to carry out her duties in the most elegant and appropriate way.”
As tempting as it is to zero in on the (incredible) details of these garments, I think it is equally important to step back and scan the third and fourth rooms. Dedicated to her glamorous diplomatic dressing and colorful daywear, these displays seem to say: here is a public figure who had a big job for a long time. One of my favorite groupings is seen above, the coats she wore to mark her Silver, Gold, Diamond and Platinum Jubilees.
The Strategic Staging
To accommodate all of these looks, the team put together some clever compilations: a gaggle of gowns, a double-decker display of daywear, and an assembly of accessories. It moves one’s gaze all around: up in reverence or admiration, through a crowd to spot some sparkle. The daywear is set against black, offering it a modern pop in the otherwise gilded gallery setting.
Much of the clothing is out in the open, rather than behind glass, allowing for the closest of inspections. (The audio guide brightly, if firmly, reminds you to keep your hands to yourself). I leaned in to get a closer look at the seams or the beading.
Almost every piece is displayed with an accompanying photograph of the queen, allowing one to place the wearing — helpful for even those well-versed in royal fashion (present company included!).
The Queen Herself
As Lisa Kathleen Graddy, a curator at the Smithsonian, told me during a tour of the First Lady exhibition, “For people most of us will never meet, [their clothes are] the only thing we get to see. That’s how we start to begin to assess someone.”
In these rooms filled with her fashion, I could envision anew the queen in all her iterations. There was the cherub princess on her first birthday, the glamorous heir to the throne in a deep velvet coat dress, and the besotted bride marrying the man she loved.
Her stature is clear here, too, a compact 5-foot, 4-inches. Does that matter? The longer I lingered, the more I think it does. She was 25 years old when she became queen, a young — and petite — woman taking her place on a global stage dominated by men. But rather than attempt to blend in, she stood firm in her femininity.
The exhibition also reveals, with new authority, the more active role Elizabeth played in her fashion. “She held the relationships with her chosen designers and couturiers so closely,” de Guitaut said. The exhibition has the receipts, so to speak, including correspondence in which the queen marked her preferences.
But mostly, if I may: The effort on display is astonishing. I left the gallery marveling at the time and talent it took to conceive and create these garments, as well as what it must have felt to wear them. What was the queen thinking when she was cinched into a gown, slipped into a colorful coat, or placed a festooned hat on her head?
This exhibition makes clear: Elizabeth II was dressing to be seen.
Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style is on at the King’s Gallery through Oct. 18. Tickets are selling fast; reserve yours here.
Can’t make it across the pond? Not to worry. I am hard at work at a room-by-room recap of the exhibition, with so many more beautiful photographs and details on some of my favorite pieces. Stay tuned — and spread the word!
What a treat to see this incredible collection in person! I am so envious! ❤️ Thank you for sharing your experience so we can live vicariously.
Oh, these photos are so beautiful! Thank you for doing this, I am eager to see the room by room tour.