New dresses and old jewelry: modern coronation fashion is being created in Britain

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British coronation of King Charles III and his wife Camilla showed how much coronation fashion has changed over the past 70 years. In the weekly column HELLO! we tell you what the current and future queens Camilla and Catherine were wearing, and why.

According to a long tradition, kings and queens arrive at Westminster Abbey in scarlet parliamentary robes, and leave it in purple imperial — about five meters long. Usually they were all sewn for each monarch individually. But Carl III decided to use the coronation paraphernalia of his ancestors, trimmed with Canadian ermine, which was worn by George VI in 1937 and Elizabeth II in 1953. The only new robe was the one in which Queen Camilla left the coronation. It was sewn from purple velvet to match the king’s robes at the Royal School of Embroidery, of which the wife of Charles III has been patron since 2017. The pattern for imperial robes of queens is usually created in accordance with their tastes and wishes, because it is in them that the monarchs pose for official portraits on the day of the coronation, which means that they will go down in history.

In the case of Camilla, the drawing was supposed to reflect her love for nature, for Britain and for Charles. Therefore, on her mantle, we saw plants embroidered with gold thread. — both national symbols of the United Kingdom and flowers of personal importance to the royal couple. For example, the lily of the valley, which was in Camilla’s wedding bouquet in 2005 and, by the way, was the favorite flower of Elizabeth II. And also myrtle, symbolizing hope, and delphinium — one of the favorite flowers of the king, which also blooms in July — month in which Camilla was born. There were also embroidered cornflowers, symbolizing love and tenderness, a curly fern, as a symbol of purity, and cuffs talking about love and support. In addition, for the first time in history, insects are depicted on the mantle, including bees and beetles. They remind that the royal couple care about the environment and love nature.

Another example of “recycling” in a royal way: the crown of George’s wife was placed on Camilla’s head V Mary of Teck. Although the predecessors of Charles III were not stingy and ordered new crowns for their wives, he decided to keep the promise that his reign would be economical. For Camilla, the crown, made in 1911 by jewelers Garrard & Co and adorned with 2,200 diamonds, was slightly modified. Originally made in the Art Deco style, the crown has an unusual shape for the crowns of British monarchs – eight removable semi-arches instead of the traditional two arches.

For the coronation, four of them were removed so that she looked different on Camilla. Also, in memory of Carl’s mother III crown adorned with Cullinan diamonds III, IV And V from the personal collection of Elizabeth IIwho wore them as brooches. By the way, the diamond necklace that adorned the neck of Queen Camilla participated in all the coronations of the last century. This piece of 26 stones was also made in 1858 by Garrard&Co as a gift to Queen Victoria. Queen Alexandra was the first to wear it at her coronation in 1902, later Mary of Teck, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Elizabeth II. Therefore, among jewelers, it is called the “Coronation Necklace”.

But the costume that the queen was wearing was created especially for her and with her direct participation. It was a sumptuous white coat dress with long sleeves and an underskirt adorned with fine gold and silver embroidery. She entrusted the creation of her image for the coronation to 72-year-old designer Bruce Odfield.

I am honored to have been asked to create a truly historic dress for Her Majesty. This is without exaggeration the most important order in my life. Very interesting and very special, the couturier admitted.

I have been designing costumes for Queen Camilla for over ten years. The coronation dress was made in the style and silhouette that Her Majesty likes, it looks sophisticated and is suitable for such a solemn occasion, he told WWD.

It should be noted that Oldfield’s regular clients are, for example, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna and Taylor Swift. But the main thing is that it was he who sewed the most iconic costumes for Princess Diana, such as a silver dress with an open back, in which she was present at the London premiere of the next Bond film, License to Kill, in 1985. Oldfield and Lady Di were friends, and, as it turned out, he had the same close relationship with the second wife of King Charles III. In addition, a source at Buckingham Palace told The Sun, “Camille trusts Bruce because lately he’s been designing dresses for her most important events.”

The ensemble that we saw at the coronation was made of matte silk fabric and embroidered with flowers, including daisies, forget-me-nots, celandine and scarlet primrose, which were supposed to symbolize the love of the king and queen for nature. On the hem of the petticoat and on the cuffs are the floral emblems of the four constituent parts of Britain – the English rose, the Scottish thistle, the Welsh daffodil and the Irish shamrock. According to the designer, he also tried to reflect rural motifs in the drawing. In addition, the queen herself allowed herself a little prank: on the hem embroidered with gold thread images of her and King Charles III Jack Russell Terriers Beth and Bluebell, which they adopted from the Battersea dog shelter in 2017, flaunted. Nevertheless, and despite the modernity of the cut, the dress fully corresponded to the level of the event. Oldfield explains this by saying that he was inspired by the coronation images of Camilla’s predecessors.

I think it’s always good to look back at history when creating these things – not just the late Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation dress, but the outfits of those who came before her, which I did,” he explained.

The shoes for Camilla were made from the same silk fabric as the dress by renowned shoe designer Eliot Zed.

As for the Princess of Wales, her dress — much more modest and concealed by a dark blue robe of the Royal Victorian Order with a scarlet border — was created by British designers from Alexander McQueen. For the second time, when choosing a costume for a solemn event of this level, she gave preference to this brand. After all, the author of her wedding image was Sarah Burton from Alexander McQueen. And, as then, her ivory gown was embroidered in silver and crystal with the floral emblems of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

It is curious that she did not wear the appropriate tiara for the coronation. Despite the fact that at the coronation of Elizabeth II, all the women of the royal family and some of the ladies-in-waiting wore tiaras, and at the coronation of George VI in 1937, even the young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret wore small crowns, this time there were no blinding brilliance of diamonds. According to the Daily Mirror, Buckingham Palace, which announced a formal daytime dress code for guests, which includes simple headdresses, demanded that the women of the royal family also be more modest.

Kate, Princess of Wales, and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, were asked to confine themselves to a hat, comb, barrette, hoop or any other piece of jewelry. And if Sophie did just that, then Kate came out of the situation with the dignity inherent in the future queen. She wore a massive floral headdress embroidered with volumetric leaves in silver and crystals, reminiscent of a diadem in shape and color. This masterpiece was created by British hat designer Jess Colette in collaboration with Alexander McQueen.

The 8-year-old Princess Charlotte wore a similar piece of crystal and silver thread jewelry by the same author. And her dress was also made at Alexander McQueen, so the employees of this fashion house were clearly not sitting idle before the coronation. Another striking detail of the image of Kate were earrings with pearls and diamonds, which belonged to Princess Diana and are reminiscent of her. These earrings, shaped like horseshoes and laurel wreaths, can be worn without pearls, but the Princess of Wales preferred the most luxurious option, and she took the pearls from another set that belonged to Lady Dee.

And one more detail that the audience could not see under the cloak during the coronation, so it showed up already in the official portrait taken on the same day: the famous diamond necklace of Elizabeth II. King George VI gave it to his daughter in 1950. Moreover, contrary to custom, he did not buy a ready-made jewelry, but ordered Garrard jewelers from 105 diamonds of his mother, Queen Mary. This necklace is Elizabeth. II especially loved and worn very often — in memory of my father. So the image of Kate also turned out to be very symbolic.