London:
An evening gown with zardozi work depicting India’s national flower, the lotus, is among the prized fashion items on display at one of the UK’s largest royal exhibitions in memory of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The gown was designed by Norman Hartnell, Dressmaker to the Queen, for a state dinner hosted by then President Dr Rajendra Prasad in Delhi in January 1961. It forms the centrepiece of the ‘Diplomatic Dressing’ section of the ‘Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style’ exhibition.
The display recently opened to the public at the King’s Gallery in London’s Buckingham Palace to the mark the birth centenary year of Britain’s longest reigning monarch, mother of King Charles III.
“For a state dinner given in the Queen’s honour in Delhi, the Hartnell gown with its zardozi-type (metal thread) embellishment in the form of India’s national flower, the lotus, was highly appropriate,” reads the curator’s note.
The silk dress embellished with lace, pearl beads, crystals and sequins originally had a train falling from the Queen’s shoulders, which was later removed for the dress to be adapted to include a short bolero jacket allowing for later under-stated use.
The fashion exhibition explores the Queen’s use of diplomatically significant emblems and colours in her wardrobe for overseas tours.
Another gown from the 1961 tour of the Commonwealth, designed by Hartnell for a state banquet in Karachi, incorporates Pakistan’s national colours through a “dramatic emerald-green pleat cascading down the back”.
“For the 1961 tour of India, Pakistan and Nepal, a wardrobe of diplomatically and culturally appropriate clothing was prepared by Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies,” the curator explains.
The tour marked the late Queen’s first visit to India by a reigning British monarch since independence, during which she was also Guest of Honour at the Republic Day Parade. The elaborate exhibition, running until October, has been dubbed the most comprehensive exhibition of royal fashion ever mounted of the Queen, who passed away aged 96 in September 2022.
“Only now, as the late Queen’s fashion archive comes under the care of Royal Collection Trust, can we tell the story of a lifetime of thoughtful style choices – from her hands-on role and understanding of the soft power behind her clothing, to the exceptional craftsmanship behind each garment,” said Caroline de Guitaut, exhibition curator and Surveyor of the King’s Works of Art.
“In the year that she would have turned 100 years old, this exhibition will be a celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s uniquely British style and her enduring fashion legacy,” she said.
Through over 300 outfits and accessories, the curation covers the nearly 10 decades of the monarch – from birth to adulthood, from princess to queen, and from off-duty style to diplomatic dressing for the global stage.
Visitors have been flocking to the palace to catch a glimpse of the monarch’s clothing, jewellery, hats, shoes and accessories. Alongside, never-before-seen design sketches, fabric samples and handwritten correspondence reveal the behind-the-scenes process of dressing one of the most famous woman in the world.
