Dressing the Queen

Ranging from royal laundresses to corset-makers and professional feather curlers, this is the hidden story of the people who designed, sewed, stitched and steamed the clothes of Britain's queens, from Victoria to the present day

From Royal tours and walkabouts to the dazzling spectacle of a Royal wedding or Coronation, the clothes worn by Royal women have always been a fascination. Starting with Queen Victoria and moving to the modern Elizabethan age, DRESSING THE QUEEN shows the incredible craftmanship and painstaking effort that goes into the making of what is known as the 'Royal Wardrobe'. But rather than focusing on the famous wearers, this book uncovers the hidden stories of the makers, dressers and designers whose job it was to create and care for the outfits worn by female monarchs and consorts.

We are introduced to a tribe of talented - and previously unsung - women and men- milliners, tailors, jewellers and couturiers, shoemakers and luggage-makers, and laundresses, embroiderers and embellishers. They include Frieda Arnold, Queen Victoria's German dresser; Harriet Cave, basket maker and inspiration to Louis Vuitton; and Clara Mobbs, feather curler to prizewinning corset-maker Madame Roxey Caplin. Later, in the Elizabethan era, we meet a young Norman Hartnell, the designer hand-picked to design a wedding dress for a princess; the traditional Scottish knitters favoured by the Windsors for Balmoral holidays; and the makers and dressers whose work was so integral to royal life that they became part of the Queen's bubble during lockdown.

Right down to the courtiers required to break in a new pair of shoes or mend clothes en route, dress historian Kate Strasdin introduces us to some of the people closest to the royal body. Protocol may require them to keep silent about their work, yet the clothes often tell their own story; as the royals sally forth to myriad engagements and state visits in fantastically arranged ensembles, Strasdin reveals the extraordinary histories of the people and companies who created such visions - and shows how they did it.