The Queen's Wedding Dress
In a sense, the Queen has been married twice. The first time she became
wedded to Prince Philip; the second time at her coronation, she became wedded to
the people. Each occasion demanded a dress of majestic beauty and on each occasion
she chose dress designer, Norman Hartnell.
With his theatrical training,
Hartnell was the ideal person to make spectacular dresses which would hold a
stage of another kind.
Less than three months before the wedding date, one of Hartnell's designs was
approved and he began his research immediately. He describes this in his
autobiography (1955): 'I roamed the London Art Galleries in search of classic
inspiration and fortunately found a Botticelli figure in clinging ivory silk,
trailed with jasmine, smilax, syringa and small white rose-like blossoms. I
thought these flora might be interpreted on a modern dress through the medium of
white crystals and pearls.'
Because of Wartime restrictions, the pearls were not available in this
country, and eventually Hartnell obtained twenty thousand of the correct pearls
from America. Once the pearls were in his possession Hartnell set about
transferring the embroidery design to the paper pattern, but before the
embroideresses could carry out the work Hartnell found himself in the throes of
a publicity scandal. You are reading an original 'Queen's Wedding
Dress' royalty fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at
www.fashion-era.com ©
The Queen Mother had specifically asked that Hartnell should use an unusually
rich, lustrous stiff satin which was made at Lullington Castle. The satin was ideal for the train, but Hartnell thought that the dress
required a more supple material of a similar tone. He ordered the similar fabric
from the Scottish firm of Winterthur near Dunfermline. Difficulties arose when
rivals put about the rumour that the Scottish satin was made from 'enemy silk
worms', either from Italy or possibly Japan. A telephone call to Dunfermline
settled the scandal. Mr. Hartnell was assured the silkworms were from
Nationalist China and were not 'enemy silkworms'.
However politically correct the silkworms were, time has shown
that the choice of silk was not a good one and below you can read some facts
about the dress in my interview with Miss Kay Staniland, Keeper of the
Robes in the London Museum in 1978.
But thirty years before in 1947 there was no immediate thought in Hartnell's mind
that this would be a Museum piece of the future. His concern was to complete the
gown as quickly and in as much secrecy as possible. Despite the many attempts of
the press to bribe Hartnell's staff, the only glimpse newspapermen had of the
dress, was when the covered four foot box containing the dress, left Hartnell's
salon the day before the wedding.
The following day the Princess walked down the aisle of
Westminster Abbey on the arm of His Majesty King George VI. Right
- Now we are married...
The richly embroidered white
satin wedding dress shimmered with her every movement. Softly
spaced throughout the dress were garlands of pearl orange blossom, syringa,
jasmine and White Rose of York. These were skilfully combined with flowing lines
of wheat ears, the symbol of fertility, and worked in pearl and diamante.
Unique Wedding Favors and Decorations
˚
The Royal wedding group
The design was repeated throughout the length of the fifteen
foot train and repeat motifs of embroidery bordered the sweetheart neckline, the
long satin sleeves and the hem.
Right
- The beautiful embroidered train of the
wedding dress.
Similar motifs were also featured on the complementary bridesmaids'
dresses.
H. R. H Princess Margaret wearing a dress
with motifs in the same style as those on her sister's dress.
Wisely, the Princess rejected the usual heavy heirloom lace so often worn by
Royal brides, and instead chose a flattering soft white tulle veil that was half
the length of the train. With it she wore a small Russian style sunray fringe
tiara and a single row of pearls. You are reading an original 'Queen's Wedding
Dress' royalty fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at
www.fashion-era.com ©.
In the interests of posterity it might have been wiser to have used satin
from another source, since the fabric used is quite rotted. At an
interview in the London Museum in 1978, Miss Kay Staniland, Keeper of the Robes, told me
that the Queen's wedding dress, which has been displayed several times, was in an
appalling condition; the main problem being the silk used for the dress. Miss
Staniland described the silk as being very heavily tin
weighted. She explained that the tin weighting was contributing to the continual
deterioration of the fabric, speeding up the rotting process which starts as
soon as any fabric is removed from the loom.
In the early 1970s, the dress was displayed with half a dozen
other Royal wedding dresses. When Miss Staniland attempted to fit the Queen's
dress to its polystyrene dress form she found that the weight of the embroidery
dragged the skirt down, increasing the strain on the weave. To have left the
dress on the form as it was, would have resulted in the skirt tearing from the
bodice. The problem was solved by the construction of a calico skirt with tapes.
This was used to support the heavy embroidered skirt and was secured to the
form, without adding strain to the bodice.
Despite the fact that I was a serious costume student I was
not allowed to even see, let alone handle the gown using special conservation
gloves. However Miss Staniland kindly went to some trouble to show me photographs of the back view of the dress. The back
fastening of the dress was not a zip, but a series of fourteen tiny covered
buttons which were spaced closely together and stopped at the base of the spine.
All the buttonholes had unravelled and beneath these there was a zip for
additional support.
The left sleeve was badly frayed; the head having come
completely away from the armhole, revealing a tear in the armpit. Some of the
underarm degradation of the fabric was due probably to the combination of
the metal salts in the silk and underarm perspiration which together speeded
up the disintegration process. Anyone standing under intense camera lights
knowing they would be watched by millions combined with the occasion of a
marriage ceremony would perspire a great deal.
The keeper confided that gowns of this type were a nightmare to display and
handle and from the Museum's point of view, the condition of this comparatively
new dress was classified as poor. Already it was a conservation problem limiting
the length of time it could be displayed even in the most carefully controlled
conditions. Considering I was given that information a quarter of a century ago
one can only speculate at the condition of the gown today. You are reading
an original 'Queen's Wedding
Dress' royalty fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at
www.fashion-era.com ©.
Within three years of the wedding ceremony, the Princess was a
mother of two infants and it was at this period that press columnists began to
describe her as 'dowdy' and 'frumpish'. Hartnell continued to design clothes for her, but they
were still very much in the matronly styles favoured by the elder women who
surrounded her, but particularly by her mother and Queen
Mary.
The description was very unkind and it's also important to
remember that in the early 1950s women dressed like their mothers to appear
older and more sophisticated unlike today when mothers hope to be taken for
their daughter's friends.
Princess Elizabeth's first attempt at adventurous clothing was abortive.
Several dresses were ordered from the House of Molyneux for the Commonwealth
Tour of 1952. During the first week of the tour, before Princess Elizabeth had a
chance to wear any of them, news came of her father's death. They were never
worn publicly because shortly after, Princess Margaret was heavily criticised by
the British Fashion Houses for wearing Paris made Dior dresses rather than
supporting British couturiers.
At the news of the King's death, the court went into mourning,
and four thousand miles away at Sagana Royal Lodge in Kenya, hasty arrangements
were made to fly the new Queen back to Britain via Entebbe. When she boarded the
Dakota plane she wore a summery beige dress smattered with white flowers, a white hat,
and white accessories. Photographers were asked not to photograph her, so there
is no record of Elizabeth II on her accession day.
At Entebbe airport she
changed planes and there was able to change into mourning clothes, which are always
present somewhere amongst Royal luggage in case of unexpected death. When
Elizabeth II stepped out of the plane onto English soil, she was wearing deep
black.
The first person to kiss her hand was the aged Queen Mary. At
the same time she is reported to have indicated her disapproval of the Queen's
coat, saying, 'Much too short for mourning'. From the photographic evidence
available it seems that the young Queen was developing a mind of her own. The
coat she wore at her father's funeral appears to be no longer than the one
criticised by Queen Mary.
Within days of the Queen's accession, Committees were formed
and skeleton plans for her Coronation were outlined. The day of ceremony was to
be June 2nd, 1953, some sixteen months
later, during which time thousands of
people had to spend thousands of hours involved in the arrangements.
Once again Norman Hartnell was to play a part and in
October 1952, he was summoned to the palace where he received his Coronation
brief to design the Coronation ceremonial robes. You have been reading
an original 'Queen's Wedding
Dress' royalty fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at
www.fashion-era.com ©.
‡
Page Added 2001 - Amended 2009.
Looking for a colouring in picture -
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Coronation Dress Picture
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Note - This page on the Queen's
wedding dress is based on some content taken from a dissertation
called:- Elizabeth II - The Splendour Of Regal Wear
which I wrote in 1978. The dissertation looked at the symbolism
behind the decorative embellishment on ceremonial dresses worn by
the Queen and how the decoration on those dresses could be used as a
starting point to create fresh new design ideas.
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