AN EVENING gown featuring zardozi work inspired by India’s national flower, the lotus, is among the items on display at one of the UK’s biggest royal exhibitions dedicated to 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 is the centrepiece of the ‘Diplomatic Dressing’ section of the ‘Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style’ exhibition.
The exhibition recently opened to the public at the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace in London to mark the birth centenary year of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and 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,” the curator’s note states.
The silk gown, decorated with lace, pearl beads, crystals and sequins, originally included a train falling from the Queen’s shoulders. The train was later removed and the dress adapted with a short bolero jacket for later use.
The exhibition looks at the Queen’s use of colours and symbols in her wardrobe during overseas tours.
Another gown from the 1961 Commonwealth tour, designed by Hartnell for a state banquet in Karachi, used 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 said.
The tour marked the late Queen’s first visit to India by a reigning British monarch since independence. During the visit, she was also Guest of Honour at the Republic Day Parade.
The exhibition, which runs until October, has been described as the most comprehensive royal fashion exhibition staged for the Queen, who died 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.
The exhibition includes more than 300 outfits and accessories spanning nearly 10 decades of the monarch’s life, from childhood to her years as queen, including clothing worn for diplomatic occasions.
Visitors have been gathering at the palace to see the monarch’s clothing, jewellery, hats, shoes and accessories. The exhibition also includes design sketches, fabric samples and handwritten correspondence showing the process behind the outfits worn by one of the world’s most recognised women.
