The homage to Queen Elizabeth II that came towards the end of Monday’s Fashion Awards was always going to be the moment that brought the house – or rather an entire Royal Albert Hall – down.
Accompanied by the Cold Stream Guards (talk about stylish), a handful of bagpipers and, inevitably, God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols, dozens of models swarmed across the stage of the Royal Albert Hall, wearing outfits from designers past and present while a montage of images of the late Queen’s reign reminded an international audience, if their memories needed jogging, what a stellar presence she had been.
Here she was twinkling away with Obama; there smiling with the Kennedys; having Margot Fonteyn presented to her; watching the Red Arrows, and most importantly, with the corgis… this was a reminder not just of her stature but her charm.
“The response from everyone we asked – designers and stylists – has been incredible,” said Robin Derrick, who art directed British Vogue for two decades and produced this spectacle. “Everyone wanted to get involved. Icon’s an overused word. But she was one”.
Christopher Kane, the Scot who has previously won a fashion award for his innovative, sometimes subversive, often elegant clothes, volunteered a mint-green twinset and skirt from his last collection for the procession. “I absolutely loved the Queen,” he told me. “It’s not so much her style influence as the way she led her life.”
Other designers included archival pieces from John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood, and current outfits by Roksanda Ilincic, Burberry, Simone Rocha, Stephen Jones, Richard Quinn (whose inaugural show she attended during London Fashion Week in 2018) and Erdem to name a few.
“I’ll always be inspired by her strong sense of duty,” said Erdem, whose brocades in this display were directly influenced by the late queen.
Millennial designers, including Hannah Weiland, founder of Shrimps, and SS Daley, another winner on Monday, openly draw on her style too, “so using a tribute to her late Majesty as a way to showcase the incredible talent in the UK seemed fitting” says Sophia Neophitou, who styled the stand-out segment.
