Decoding Queen Elizabeth II's fashion mantra: Brightly coloured outfits, stunning jewels and more

Queen Elizabeth II's appearance was characterised by vibrant clothing, a coordinating headpiece, lavish jewellery and perfect gloves. The monarch experimented with every colour during her reign, including canary yellow, lime green, fuchsia, and navy blue.

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Over the years, aides and fashion designers, beginning with Norman Hartnell, who made Queen Elizabeth II's wedding dress for her marriage to Prince Philip in 1947, contributed to developing her style. It was a stunning sight for a Britain emerging from the ruins of World War II, made of Duchesse satin and embellished with crystals and 10,000 seed pearls.

The silk gown Queen Elizabeth II wore for her coronation in 1953 was likewise fashioned by Hartnell. It was decorated with the flags of the nations she ruled over and was stitched in gold, silver, green, and pink. The designer later said he took inspiration from "the sky, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars and everything that might be embroidered on a dress destined to be historic".

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Hardy Amies was Queen Elizabeth II's official dressmaker from 1955 to 1990. "The task of making clothes for the Queen is not easy," he said. Before taking over domestic responsibilities from Hartnell, Amies initially designed sharp clothes for her international travels. Amies also created the eye-catching pink ensemble she wore for her silver jubilee in 1977.

Angela Kelly was responsible for Queen Elizabeth II's contemporary style and appearance. Kelly, a Liverpool dock worker's daughter, began working as a dresser for the monarch in 1993. In 2002, she was promoted to personal assistant and senior dresser and became a close confidante of the monarch. "We are two typical women," she once said. "We discuss clothes, make-up, jewellery." 

In her officially approved biography, "The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser, and the Wardrobe," Kelly recalls trimming and styling the Queen's hair during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown.

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Following the royal dress code was important while creating Queen Elizabeth II's attire. "There are not written-down laws but there are kind of traditional old etiquette-plus-protocol rules," former royal butler Grant Harrold, an etiquette expert, was quoted as telling AFP. "She will always wear tights, which will be flesh-coloured, while her nail varnish will be pale pink. You will never see her wearing a skirt -- especially at her age -- above the knee," he added. As for jewellery, the Queen wore a brooch or a pearl necklace.

Even though it appeared as though the Queen was upholding outdated customs by donning a hat and gloves in public, there was a practical side to her dress code. She stood at 1.63 metres (five feet four inches), and together with her see-through umbrellas and block heels, she could stand out in a crowd.

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Given the large number of hands she had to shake, Harrold also noted that the gloves had another purpose of "not catching any bugs." Kelly sewed additional layers of lining into her evening gowns to reduce the strain of beading and gems on the Queen's back.

Tiny weights were sewn into the hemlines of her day clothes in case of windy conditions. Kelly would also wear the monarch's new shoes to ensure they were comfortable. Her bright colour choices, worn from head to toe, were the defining feature of her style. "The Queen is well-known for block-colour dressing, using vivid and bold colours to ensure she is easily visible on important occasions," said Caroline de Guitaut, who curated a 2016 Buckingham Palace exhibition entitled "Fashioning a Reign".

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Her attire "formed an armour, a uniform" for Michele Clapton, costume designer for the popular Netflix television series "The Crown."  Queen Elizabeth II adopted a different look at one of her country homes on the weekends and was frequently spotted donning a headscarf, a raincoat, and a pair of boots. "People remarked they were amazed at the speed at which she could be with her corgis in the garden at one minute and then changed and appeared with her suit, hat, and gloves the next," said Clapton.

The sovereign must maintain her political neutrality, yet Queen Elizabeth II made a statement with her attire. She might have worn a Canadian maple leaf or an Irish clover brooch to respect her hosts during an official visit. On her historic 2011 visit to Ireland, the palette had subtle allusions to national colours when she came in emerald green.

After the former owner of the opulent lingerie firm Rigby & Peller revealed information about royal bra fittings in her memoirs, the company was stripped of its royal warrant in 2018. The same year, Elizabeth visited London Fashion Week for the first time, sitting next to Anna Wintour, the seasoned editor of Vogue magazine. She wore a duck-egg blue dress and jacket for the event to deliver the first-ever "Elizabeth II Fashion Award."