Uptown Girls

Sometimes, no matter how hectic or stressful life is, a day out with girlfriends is all you need to put the World back into perspective. Even though it had been arranged months previously, a trip to the City with my Uptown Girls, arrived at the perfect time.

We took the train along the coastal route, as we needed to be in the Victoria area of London. This journey can often feel like the slow boat to China, but as we were catching up and putting the World to rights, it flew by, and before we knew it we were refuelling in a little cafe before the main event.

The Kings Gallery.

Having recently passed, what would have been Queen Elizabeth 11’s, 100th birthday, we were excited to take a look back at her amazingly long reign, through her sense of fashion. We had been promised a rare insight into her style, from design sketches, to ideas for colours to the actual dresses magnificently displayed.

Our journey began in her infancy, with baby dresses, bonnets and tiny booties. Her exquisite christening gown had been commissioned by Queen Victoria in 1841, for the christening of her daughter Princess Victoria. The dress was used for all subsequent Royal christenings until 2004, when it was deemed the lace was becoming too fragile. However an exact replica was produced and is still used today.

The Queen and her sister Margaret, enjoyed dressing up and amongst the collection were two mandarin dresses, one of which had been worn by their own mother as a child. As we moved from her child hood to her late teens, her ATS uniforms stood to attention and we learned of her training as a vehicle mechanic and truck driver.

I have never thought of the late Queen as a fashion icon, however it seems in her 20’s she most certainly was. In collaboration with the designer Norman Hartnell, she wore some beautiful velvet coat dresses, fashionably nipped in and fitted at the waist, whilst padded at the hips, which was evidently very popular at the time.

There was a bit of congestion as we all jostled for a view of her magnificent wedding dress. The detailing and beading forming beautiful, delicate flowers. Complete with tiara, veil and shoes we were treated to the complete ensemble. She must have looked stunning.

She loved her down time in the country, with her beloved corgis and her horses. It seems different styles of tweed and tartan were her preferred attire, her hair kept tidy with a variety of printed headscarves, no doubt her corgis running along beside her.

The exhibition continued with a huge collection of evening dresses, many of which were worn during overseas trips. She was ever the diplomat and many of her dresses gave nods to her host, such as the white and green dress worn on a visit to Pakistan.

All the dresses on display had intricate embroidery, many also having pearls and beads sewn into the decoration. There was a vast array of colours, but the majority were of a similar cut, just embellished differently.

Her order of the garter uniform stood proudly alongside her exquisite coronation dress, which was adorned with embroidered flowers from all corners of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth from thistles to shamrocks, from roses to the lotus flower, her diplomacy didn’t miss any country out.

As she aged, she favoured looser fitting coats, but there was always a complimenting hat and shoes. Apart from her coronation dress, the final dress on display in this room was the one that she wore to parachute from the helicopter with Daniel Craig at the opening of the 2012, London Olympics. She certainly had a wicked sense of humour.

The last room was cleverly filled from floor to ceiling with a spectacular array of day dresses. All incredibly elegant, colourful and of course had the perfect hat to complete the outfit.

Her accession dress and a couple of stone studded, very expensive tiaras were the perfect finale to our tour.

We had been wowed from start to finish.

Chelsea in Bloom

As the Chelsea flower show was just opening its doors to Royalty and celebrities, and our invites had been lost in the post, we decided to visit the prelude to the show, Chelsea in Bloom.

We made our way to Chelsea’s Kings Road, where almost every shop doorway and every open space is filled with magnificent floral displays.

Some were using the displays to advertise their wares, others were just beautiful displays, from the unicorn to the spaceman, from horses to a sofa, from a pair of parrots to a hand holding up the World. Many were artificial flowers, some were real and there were also a few using both.