Style Icon: Queen Elizabeth II

via BBC

London Fashion week starts today and while it is going ahead this season is going to be quite different.    I shared The British Fashion Council’s official statement on Twitter but essentially everything on Monday (the day of the funeral) is cancelled, and the whole week will be toned done, focusing solely on collection presentations and catwalks.  I am still speaking to a few brands about what this means for the shows I am going to but fingers crossed I will still get to attend a handful.

As an American in England it is a very surreal time to be living in London and the period of National Mourning following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is like nothing I have ever seen.  Some people are waiting in line for more than 24 hours for the chance to see her coffin and while I won’t be doing that I am going to pay my respects today by featuring the Queen as my latest style icon.   I thought it was only fitting to take a look back at some of her best looks over her iconic reign and I am not the first to do this, I found great features by British Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Town & Country, Glamour and many others.  She was the queen of colorful monochrome looks later in life that spanned every color of the rainbow and while I have included a few of these here are 30 of her best looks throughout 90 years of her life:

________

1958 – For an official visit to Liverpool Street Station in London she wore a lemon coat
with a matching hat and a leopard-print scarf.
(source: Loomis Dean via British Vogue)

1960 – In a turquoise Norman Hartnell dress with a matching bolero and headpiece
at the wedding of her sister, Princess Margaret, in Westminster Abbey.
(source: PA via British Vogue)

1963 – In coral evening gown with her signature pearls to attend
an event in London with the Duke of Edinburgh.
(source: Getty via Harper’s Baazar)

1970 – In a white and green dress with Prince Philip at a State banquet in 1970
(source: Getty Images via Marie Claire)

1972 – A classic all-white ensemble while celebrating her Silver wedding celebrations in Mauritius.
(source: Getty Images via Marie Claire)

1988 – In riding gear and a printed headscaves at the Royal Windsor Horse Show.
(source: via Town & Country and Anwar Hussein via British Vogue)

1990 – In a bow-necked dress and coat with white accessories and sepia
sunglasses on the final day of the 1990 Cartier Queen’s Cup.
(source:  Georges De Keerle via British Vogue 

1990 –  Wearing bold florals with Diana, the Princess of Wales, and
Princess Margaret for the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday.
(source: :Getty via Glamour Magazine)

1993 –  Wearing a pink gown and tiara to attend a banquet in Budapest with her husband, Prince Philip.
(source: Getty via British Vogue)

1999 –  Wearing a colourful sequined top and striped gold skirt at the Birmingham Hippodrome.
(source: Tim Graham via British Vogue)

2000 –  The Queen wore lilac to open the Millennium Bridge in London.
(source: Anwar Hussein via British Vogue)

2000 – In bow-print gown and emerald jewellery with Nelson Mandela at Buckingham Palace.
(source: Anwar Hussein Collection via British Vogue)

2006 –  A white beaded gown with a fur stole and wore the George IV diadem at the State Opening of Parliament.
(source: Samir Hussein via British Vogue)

2010 – In black and white to visit the Canadian combined forces base
Nova Scotia during her royal tour of Canada.
(source: via Town & Country)

2015 –  Wearing pink  with one of her daily red box dispatches to mark the moment she became the UK’s longest-serving monarch.
(source:  Mary McCartney via The Guardian)

2015 – The Queen kept dry under an umbrella that was tipped with pink to coordinate with her ensemble when visiting Birmingham.
(source: Getty via Glamour Magazine)

2016 – Wearing yellow scalloped-edge Angela Kelly outfit with the Richmond brooch as part of her 90th birthday celebrations at St Paul’s Cathedral.
(source: Zak Hussein – Corbisvia British Vogue )

2017 – The Queen wore a cream and blue lace dress with a Launer handbag in London.
(source:  WPA Pool via British Vogue)

2018 –  In an Angela Kelly dress and matching jacket with Anna Wintour at London Fashion Week.
(source: Yui Mok/PA via the Guardian)

2019 – In festive red at a Christmas morning service on the Sandringham Estate.
(source: Mark Cuthbert via British Vogue )

2022 – In pink and purple colorblock at Buckingham Palace
(source: Yui Mok – WPA Pool/Getty Images via Marie Claire)

2022 – In green accessorised with a three-strand pearl necklace and a bow brooch that once belonged to Queen Victoria Standing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
(source: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images via British Vogue)

She was certainly a remarkable woman with an incredible life – the first monarch to have achieved 70 years of service to the people of the United Kingdom, the Realms and the Commonwealth.  And I love this quote that I read, “Her wardrobe is her communication,” says Matthew Storey, curator at Historic Royal Palaces.