COLUMN: Queen's story is told through her clothes

During the last year, I have been lucky enough to have been present at some of the celebrations held to mark the Queen's 90th birthday.

At each of the events, the Queen was immaculately turned out, as one would expect from someone who earlier this month was named as one of the best dressed women in the world by the fashion magazine Vanity Fair.

The outfit that sticks out most in my mind is the vivid green dress and coat designed by Stewart Parvin with the matching hat with contrasting bright pink hydrangeas designed by the Queen’s milliner Rachel Trevor Morgan which Her Majesty wore for this year’s Trooping the Colour ceremony.

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The Queen’s clothes have to stand out and the green colour certainly did that against the row of scarlet tunics of the soldiers on parade.

This outfit was one of many which was on display as part of a special exhibition at the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace in honour of the Queen’s 90th birthday. Each year the palace is open during the summer and features an exhibition in the ballroom as its centrepiece.

The Queen’s life story was told through the clothes that she has worn right from the replica of the robe she wore for her baptism when she was only a few weeks old in 1926.

In 1936, Princess Elizabeth’s life changed dramatically with the abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII and her father became king. The outfits that she and her sister, Princess Margaret, worn for the coronation of their parents in May the following year. The war years were represented by the ATS uniform that Princess Elizabeth wore in the closing months of the war.

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An exhibition is running at Windsor Castle until January 8, which will feature outfits including the pantomime costumes, outfits worn at the weddings and some of the casual outfits she has worn for riding over the years. For more: www.royalcollectiontrust.org.uk.

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