Shortened sleeves and a Launer bag, strapped at the elbow, ensured she was free to shake hands and hold bouquets. The clothes they prepared for her had to suit not only the occasion, but also the climate: hats had to hold fast in windy weather (for that reason, and so that people could see her face, she avoided large shadows) fabrics had to retain their shape in heat and humidity hinges had to remain in place. and the Burmese diadem, said to ward off disease and evil, at a state dinner with the Trumps in 2019 © Shutterstock She spread her patronage among two or three designers at a time, often relying on their services for decades. Her clothes were completely bespoke, either adapted from a designer’s existing collection in an exclusive fabric or designed for her. A dozen people could be employed to prepare for a larger occasion, including a dresser, three designers, a tailor and miller. It took a small army to make the Queen look as good as she did. To meet then US President Donald Trump during his three-day visit to the UK in 2019, she wore a mosaic brooch gifted to her by the Obamas for the subsequent state dinner she wore her “Burmese diadem”, set with 96 rubies said to ward off disease and evil. When she read out the British government’s plans to leave the EU at the 2017 State Opening of Parliament, she donned a blue-and-yellow flowered hat that bore a striking resemblance to the EU flag (her dresser Angela Kelly later insisted it was a coincidence). and in an emerald green coat and matching hat to visit Ireland in 2011, the first monarch to do so in a century © Getty ImagesĪlthough the Queen remained publicly neutral when it came to politics, her clothes sometimes told a different story. She also influenced a generation of female politicians, including Angela Merkel, Hillary Clinton and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who emulated her bright, tailored daywear to distinguish themselves from male counterparts. In this, she set a template for later royals, including Princess Diana and Catherine, Princess of Wales, as well as former US first lady Michelle Obama. And when she became the first monarch to visit Ireland in 100 years in 2011, she won hearts by stepping out in an emerald green coat and matching hat, later followed by a white evening gown embroidered with 2,091 silk shamrocks and adorned with a brooch in shape of an Irish harp. During a tour of Japan in 1975, she flattered her hosts by dressing in the colors of the national flag and the Imperial Family, wearing a pool-blue evening dress embroidered with sprays of white cherry blossoms. Queen Elizabeth didn’t invent sartorial diplomacy, but she perfected it. The Queen, in pink coat, dress and cap, with Prince Philip during her Silver Jubilee in 1977 © Getty Images What she did was make sure she was seen.” “She defined power dressing in her own way,” says Elizabeth Holmes, author of HRH: So many thoughts on royal style. It was she who, in the late 1950s, suggested that Hardy Amies, who would be her dressmaker for more than three decades, move away from pastels to more punchy hues as she matured in her role. The Queen, who died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on Thursday, understood the importance of clothes and color. And who, aboard HMS Ocean in Plymouth in 2015, could fail to see her magenta coat and hat trimmed with two red feathers, among the sailors’ navy suits gathered behind her? There she is among well-wishers at her Silver Jubilee in 1977, her pink coat, dress and tulip-trimmed cap, accessorized with a white bag, gloves and heels, thrown into sharp relief by the black-and-gold uniforms of the soldiers flanking her. Queen Elizabeth II was only 5 feet 3 inches tall, but she couldn’t miss a crowd. Queen Elizabeth II, in royal blue, meets a group of brownies in New Zealand in 1970 © Reginald Davis/Shutterstock
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