Crown to Couture at Kensington Palace

Genevieve Muinzer

Paying homage to the world of textiles, sewing and couture, Kensington Palace has burst into a riot of beautiful garments, dresses and suits, headpieces and accessories for men and women alike. In the eye-popping exhibition Crown to Couture, Historic Royal Palaces pays tribute to the great court and red-carpet outfits of the 18th, 20th and 21st centuries, and in so doing emphasises the roles they have played in politics, social commentary, campaigning, business and the media, not forgetting the mere wish of stars just to look stunning before their peers. As HRP curator Polly Putnam said at the opening: ‘There has been no greater time than the 21st century for incredible red-carpet clothes. And historically there was no greater time for incredible clothes than the 18th century!’ Names like Oscar de la Renta, Louis Vuitton, Vivienne Westwood and many more cry out from the displays, contrasting with those of the 18th century when the designers and dress makers have long been forgotten from the public memory.

Kensington Palace, with its magnificent stairways and William Kent ceilings that echo baroque Roman palaces, is the perfect setting for this extensive display. The exhibition was inspired by the red carpet Met Gala, but its cleverness shows you, through outfit after stunning outfit, that far from being shallow, high fashion objects can make bold social statements. Yes, they can be funny; yes, they can be outrageous, but they can also be political, and can also call out moral slogans that compel the onlooker to rethink their values. While the 18th-century styles didn’t go to quite the extreme lengths of the 21st century, in their own way they also had important points to make, too. Furthermore, upon closer examination you realise that their styles were not ephemeral or transient, and that those 18th-century influences can still be seen in some of the red-carpet outfits of today.

Most importantly, you are impressed by the people who have sewed the outfits, have woven the fabrics, made shoes and hats, created accessories, and who have painted the designs – all the people whose work is too often overlooked by the attentiongrabbing designers. All these people, many of them women, have been valuable members of the British workforce for centuries and an essential part of the economy.

Today the UK’s fashion industry is worth £26 billion and contributes 800,000 jobs to the economy, making it the UK’s largest creative industry. Textile and fashion exports alone are estimated to be worth over £6.5 billion. For more than 50 years Historic Royal Palaces has paid tribute to the workmanship of British textile workers and designers by carefully collecting important uniforms, dresses and other ceremonial items of clothing in such a way that the collection is pre-eminent and of considerable national and international importance. It contains 10,000 items of historic dress from the 16th century to the present day, providing information about the history of clothing, life at court, British ceremonial traditions and the lives of key historical figures. The collection items of clothing that represent 400 years of royal fashion, including items worn by George III, Queen Victoria, Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth II.

In Crown to Couture, amazing outfits made for Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Timothée Chalamet and Edward Enninful mix happily with corseted dresses and embroidered suits from the 18th century. It’s easy to forget that these 18th-century dressers could be quite the peacocks too, and that the men were often just as colourfully and elaborately dressed as the women! At that time, entry to soirées was not necessarily granted by embossed invitations but by the beautiful attire of the wearer. The grander their sartorial appearance, the more assured they were of admission: their clothes were their invitation cards. Josiah Wedgwood, the china manufacturer, was anxious to be seen out and about, as was the portrait painter Thomas Gainsborough, in the hope that it would promote their talents and finances, just as media celebrities do today. And 18th-century politicians and their ambitious wives eagerly sought admission to society events to exert their influence in the way 21st-century politicians, influencers and writers currently do.

‘Just as the designers of today dress celebrity royalty for important public events, Kensington Palace was home to the original red carpet of the Georgian court,’ Polly Putnam continues. ‘Crown to Couture will demonstrate the similarities in the fashion “rules” set out by high-society designers, drawing fascinating comparisons between the present day and the 18th century, when the palace was at its most busy, exciting and politically and culturally important.’

The pride of HRP’s collection is the Rockingham mantua, a very wide 18th-century dress that is supported by whale-bone hoops and embroidered with fine silver thread. Made of silk satin brocade and silver trim it is believed to have been worn by Mary, Marchioness of Rockingham, the wife of Prime Minister Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham. The sheer weight of silver made it the ultimate statement dress of its time, one that screamed wealth and power. It would have been the wonder of the 18th-century fashion world and would have made very plain to British society that the Marquess was a man to be reckoned with, to be able to afford a dress like that for his wife.

Some of the outfits reflect the ostentatious craziness of the red carpet and make you laugh. Like Katy Perry’s chandelier dress –she could never sit down in it without instantly being taken to the hospital - but you admire all the workmanship in those cut-glass crystals. There is the beauty of Audrey Hepburn’s ivory coloured dress from her first movie Roman Holiday that she re-wore when she won the Oscar for best actress. Then there are the thoughtprovoking outfits like Emma Watson’s gown made out of used, recycled wedding dresses from Oxfam shops; the singer Lizzo’s dress emblazoned with the words VOTE that pleads with the younger generation to exercise their right to vote; or the Vivien Westwood dress of 2008 that criticises governments and police forces for the length of time those arrested are held in custody without being charged.

The exhibition is a fabulous, amazing journey that makes you admire anyone who can artfully wield a needle and thread. Crown to Couture runs until 29 October 2023 and is included in the admission fee for Kensington Palace.

Companions of Oremus

We are very grateful for the support of the following:

Mrs Mary Barsh

Dr Stuart Blackie

Anne Veronica Bond

Lolita Botanes

Richard Bremer

Ms Virginia Pinto Cassama

Mrs Erlinda Chin

Francis George Clark

R & L Collyer-Hamlin

Daniel Crowley

Angelita Caronan Duran

Ms Georgina Enang

Wendy Felstead

Alfredo Fernandez

Fred Gardiner

William Gardner-Hunter

Connie Gibbes

Zoe & Nick Goodway

Rosalinda Grimaldo

Mrs Valerie Hamblen

Bernadette Hau

Mrs Cliona Howell

Carl Stephen Patrick Hunter OBE

Mrs Dorothy Hunter

Alice M Jones & Jacob F Jones

Poppy K

Mary Thérèse Kelly

Raymund Livesey

Alan Lloyd in memoriam

Clare and John Lusby

Pamela McGrath

Linda McHugh

Christiana Thérèse Macarthy-Woods

James Maple

Paul Marsden

Mary Maxwell

Abundia Toledo Munar

Euphrasie Mundele Kilolo

Chris Stewart Munro

Mrs Brigid Murphy

Kate Nealon

Cordelia Onodu

Cris Ragonton

Alan Rainer

Emel Rochat

Berenice Roetheli in memoriam

Clementina Rokosu

Precy Salvador

John Scanlan

Sonja Soper

Tessa and Ben Strickland

Yollie Sumayod

Julia Sutherland

Eileen Terry

Robin Michael Tinsley

Lucila Torrefiel

Peter W Wilson and of our anonymous Companions

If you would like to become a Companion of Oremus, see page 2