Last week, Princess Beatrice accomplished a surprise wedding, a tremendous and unexpected feat for a member of royalty, even in the midst of a pandemic. But perhaps even more shocking than the Princess’ previously unannounced intimate ceremony was her choice of dress: a dress from the Queen’s wardrobe.
That’s right: Unlike most royal brides in recent history, who chose a dream designer to create a custom garment, Beatrice went vintage. And she didn’t take off any nice old dresses either; She went for one created for Queen Elizabeth by none other than Norman Hartnell, once the Windsor couturier.
Here’s what you should know about Hartnell, and how his creations helped define royalty aesthetics for decades.
Early in his career, he quickly found his position as a designer for the society.
Norman Hartnell was born in London on June 12, 1901. His parents owned a pub, the Crown & Scepter, but he never talked about it much as an adult: pubs weren’t exactly popular with well-to-do clients. He caught the fashion mistake while studying at Cambridge, first creating costumes for the Footlights Dramatic Club.
Having found his calling, he dropped out of college to pursue it, taking advantage of the connections he made at the elite university to find upper-class clients. It wasn’t long before she had international success, catering to both big-screen stars and high-society ladies.
Hartnell first earned the Queen Mother’s favor.
In 1935, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester asked Hartnell to create her wedding dress, as well as looking for her bridesmaids. Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret were among those bridesmaids, and their mother especially liked Hartnell’s designs. From then on, Hartnell would be a Queen Mother favorite; she granted him a Royal Order in 1940, which means its importance.
Queen Elizabeth also fell in love with her job.
The Queen chose Hartnell Two to create the two most memorable designs she has ever worn: her 1947 wedding gown and her 1953 coronation gown. In 1957, she was awarded her second royal order, this time as Queen Elizabeth’s dressmaker. .
Hartnell not only designed dresses for the most important moments of the monarch; he created many of the garments she wore for the most common formal events on her royal calendar. The dress that Princess Beatrice would eventually wear for her own wedding has been worn by the Queen on at least three occasions, ending in the mid-1960s: a state dinner in Rome, the premiere of Lawrence of Arabia, and the state opening of Parliament in 1966.
The Queen was not the only Windsor other than the Queen Mother who became a devoted client. Princess Margaret also enlisted him to design her royal wedding gown.
Aesthetically, he was a cheeky maximalist.
“He used to say, ‘He left the flap open,’ which meant that evening gowns that were short suddenly became long,” said Michael Pick, a Hartnell biographer. WWD
Hartnell’s designs were often intricate and always glamorous. Looking back on his work, he seems to exemplify a certain mid-century opulence, and a time when Hollywood and high society shared a taste for exuberance. As he once stated, for British Vogue, “I despise simplicity; it is the negation of all that is beautiful.”
Despite his professional success, he struggled in his personal life.
Hartnell was not particularly good at overseeing the business side of his operation, Pick notes. “For me, the great sadness of this story is that it was a long and productive life, and ended with nothing,” he said.
As a gay man in the 20th century, Hartnell was also forced to keep his relationships a secret; He could have lost everything if his sexual orientation had been made public. He also enjoyed dressing in women’s clothing, and according to Pick, he made orders for himself at his business under the name “Miss Kitty.” Unfortunately, he also had to keep all of this a secret.
“He lived a very precarious private life,” Prick said. But not everything was sad. “My conclusion is that he enjoyed that aspect more. He enjoyed the secret and the fact that he was so close to the limit in terms of what he was doing. I think he really felt the thrill of it.”
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported into this page to help users provide their email addresses. You can find more information about this and similar content on piano.io
This comment section is created and maintained by a third party, and imported into this page. You may be able to find more information on their website.
