How Queen Elizabeth will be remembered as an anti-fashion icon: a bold, elegant and steadfast rainbow of colours – but unafraid of sending sartorial messages to Donald Trump and Deng Xiaoping

Sep 26 , 2022

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, seen here waving to the crowd from Buckingham Palace balcony at the end of the Platinum Pageant in London as part of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations, on June 5, has always been known for her style statements. Photo: AFP

The unflinching consistency of Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe – a brightly coloured stream of matching coats and hats – communicated messages of stability, duty and tradition

Yet the British monarch often appeared to be making not-so-secret statements – famously wearing a pin the Obamas gave her to meet Donald Trump

As the longest-reigning monarch in British history, Queen Elizabeth II had seven decades to establish herself as a style icon. And that she did. One whose fashion choices mirrored her values as a monarch. One who, in almost a century of public life, never put a foot wrong when it came to her image.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, in a trademark brightly coloured coat and hat, with her son Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex at London’s Paddington Station in May 2022 to mark the completion of the city’s Crossrail project. Photo: AFP

There wasn’t a colour she couldn’t pull off – a feat in itself – and her sense of personal style never wavered, constant in the face of any trend or fad. Her consistency was a form of communication: it sent a message of stability and steadfastness, of commitment to duty and tradition.

The brilliance of this strategy only fully unveiled itself with the passing of time. When we look back across the last 70 years, we see the world changing around Elizabeth, while she was unmoving, as rooted as a rock, with only age and a rainbow of different fabrics to alter her. Fashion for her was not flippant. It upheld her identity, which in turn upheld the institution of the monarchy.

The EU-blue hat with EU-yellow stars, the pin given to her by the Obamas which she wore when Trump visited … However, these were not hidden or secret at all

Dr Malcolm Barnard senior lecturer in visual culture, Loughborough University

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth at the Grand Palace in Bangkok during an official visit to Thailand in 1972. Another monarch to reign for 70 years, the country’s King Bhumibol developed a bond with the queen over their long lives. Photo: Central Press/AFP

“Her clothing choices represented what some fashion theorists call anti-fashion, and communicated very conservative values – resistance to change, and thus continuity and stability,” says Dr Malcolm Barnard, a senior lecturer in visual culture at Britain’s Loughborough University and author of the book Fashion as Communication. “Her clothes fit with an understandable desire for other things, such as social, political and economic positions and conditions, not to change but to continue as they are.”

Queen Elizabeth with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1995. Photo: AFP

The most remarkable thing is that she delivered this message with such sartorial oomph. Her style may have been classic, but her clothes were never dull. Queen Elizabeth understood the importance of standing out in a crowd – and that her diminutive stature (she stood around 5 foot 3 inches, or 1.6 metres) made that difficult. Bright colours and, of course, matching headwear, solved the problem.

Queen Elizabeth with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour at London Fashion Week in 2018. Photo: Reuters