Kate Strasdin - Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A Dress History of Queen Alexandra

INSIDE THE ROYAL WARDROBE

DRESS AND FASHION RESEARCH

Series Editor: Joanne B. Eicher, Regents' Professor, University of Minnesota, USA

Advisory Board:

Vandana Bhandari, National Institute of Fashion Technology, India

Steeve Buckridge, Grand Valley State University, USA

Hazel Clark, Parsons The New School of Design New York, USA

Peter McNeil, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Toby Slade, University of Tokyo, Japan

Bobbie Sumberg, International Museum of Folk Art Santa Fe, USA

Emma Tarlo, Goldsmiths University of London, UK

Lou Taylor, University of Brighton, UK

Karen Tranberg Hansen, Northwestern University, USA

Feng Zhao, The Silk Museum Hangzhou, China

The bold Dress and Fashion Research series is an outlet for high-quality, in-depth scholarly research on previously overlooked topics and new approaches. Showcasing challenging and courageous work on fashion and dress, each book in this interdisciplinary series focuses on a specific theme or area of the world that has been hitherto under-researched, instigating new debates and bringing new information and analysis to the fore. Dedicated to publishing the best research from leading scholars and innovative rising stars, the works will be grounded in fashion studies, history, anthropology, sociology and gender studies.

ISSN: 2053-3926

Previously published in the Series

Angela M. Jansen, Moroccan Fashion

Angela M. Janson and Jennifer Craik, (eds.), Modern Fashion Traditions

Heike Jenss, Fashioning Memory

Paul Jobling, Advertising Menswear

Maria Mackinney-Valentin, Fashioning Identity

Magdalena Crciun, Islam, Faith, and Fashion

Forthcoming in the Series

Nancy Fischer, Kathryn Reiley, and Hayley Bush, Dressing in Vintage

Elizabeth Kutesko, Fashioning Brazil

INSIDE THE ROYAL WARDROBE

A dress history of Queen Alexandra

Kate Strasdin

Bloomsbury Academic

An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Contents

In the almost decade of research that has resulted in this publication, following a part-time PhD pathway, there are many people to whom I am enormously grateful for their wisdom and support. I am indebted to the curators in the museums and archives I have visited over the years, sharing their time and knowledge with such generosity: Alexandra Kim and Deirdre Murphy, Historic Royal Palaces; Pauline Rushton at National Museums, Liverpool; Kevin Jones and Christina Johnson at the FIDM Museum, Los Angeles; James Sherwood at the Henry Poole archive on Savile Row; Pam Clark at the Royal Archive; Lisa Heighway and Frances Dimond, Royal Photographic Collection; Beatrice Behlen, Museum of London. A special thanks to Shelley Tobin for starting me along this career path in the first place and to Julia Fox and colleagues at the Totnes Fashion and Textile Museum for their unflagging interest.

I was lucky to receive two awards that were invaluable to my research. My thanks always to Rosemary Harden and Elaine Uttley at the Fashion Museum Bath and their generous award of the Keith Ponting Bursary. To the committee of the Veronika Gervers Foundation I offer sincerest thanks for supporting my application and awarding to me the 2011 Gervers Fellowship allowing me time and expertise at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. Karla Livingston and Alexandra Palmer made this a wonderful research trip.

I had an incredibly supportive supervisory team at the University of Southampton Professor Maria Hayward, Barbara Burman and Jane McDermid were wonderful and I cannot thank them enough.

Finally to my family. I undertook this research with a toddler and a new baby and so all thanks and love to my husband Stuart for encouraging me to continue when it seemed crazy to do so and my parents for being there always.

Ledger page for Alexandra Princess of Wales 1863, one of many such suppliers records charting her clothing purchases. James Sherwood with thanks to Henry Poole and Co.

Edward and Alexandras image taken from one of a series that was commissioned in recognition of the couples engagement in 1862 ( carte de visite , authors own collection).

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Honiton lace was enjoying a resurgence thanks to royal patronage. By the early twentieth century it contributed to the tourism industry of Devon as this 1906 postcard demonstrates (authors own collection).

The profusion of lace was captured much more clearly than the underlying silver tissue of Alexandras wedding dress (wedding photograph carte de visite , Mayall & Co, authors own collection).

Alexandras going-away dress was a bridal affair as so many of the dresses in the early months of her marriage were a white dress with veiled hat. The photograph captures Alexandra facing the photographer while Edward and Victoria both look away ( carte de visite , authors own collection).

Alexandra, Princess of Wales in full court dress, 1888, taken by Walery, 164 Regent Street, London, Royal Collection Trust/ Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016.

Photograph of Alexandra as Queen in ornate evening/court gown heavily embellished across its surface, complete with diamonds and tiara, 1905 (authors own collection).

The widowed queen Alexandra made fewer and fewer public outings but when she did attend ceremonial events she wore glittering garments such as this fully spangled one-piece dress c. 1912, W and D Downey (authors own collection).

Queen Alexandra on board the royal yacht c.1905, her place of escape and companionship (original postcard, authors own collection).

Alexandra during her trip to Egypt in 1869 wearing what might be the Nile costume described by Mrs Grey in her diary, Royal Collection Trust/ Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016.

Alexandra Princess of Wales dressed as Mary Queen of Scots for the Waverley Ball in 1871. The dress is now in the collections of Historic Royal Palaces, Royal Collection Trust/ Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016.

Alexandra Princess of Wales dressed as Marguerite de Valois for the Devonshire House Ball of 1897, held in celebration of Queen Victorias diamond jubilee (original carte de visite , authors own collection).

Alexandra and her sister Dagmar, the Russian czarevna Maria Feodorovna, in 1876 during the state visit and their synchronized appearances, Royal Collection Trust/ Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016.

Photograph of Princess Maud, Alexandras daughter, in her riding habit on horseback and Queen Alexandra in a black tailored suit, c.1905 (original postcard, authors own collection).

Alexandra relaxing at the Cowes Regatta in what may well be a Redfern suit and had become her trademark by this time, Royal Collection Trust/ Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016.

Queen Alexandra in the robes worn to the first State Opening of Parliament of the new reign in 1901, worn over black crape dress and with the black veil to denote mourning for Queen Victoria (original postcard, authors own collection).

Her Majesty the Queen Mother Alexandra in widows cap and high-necked crape dress juxtaposed against her curiously unlined face, smoothed by the retouchers tools, 1910 (original postcard, authors own collection).

Photography of Alexandra in her coronation gown and robes that captures the drama of the falling net sleeves and the wired collar, 1902 (original postcard, authors own collection).

Alexandra in her coronation garments, showing the full embroidered splendour of the velvet robe that was put together by Ede & Ravenscroft but consisted of components by many makers, from a drawing in the Daily Telegraph (original postcard, authors own collection).