Friday Reads: The Gown

The Gown by Jennifer Robson

The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Canadian author Jennifer Robson tells the story of the women employed by British designer Norman Hartnell who embroidered the wedding gown of Queen Elizabeth II. In a second storyline, Heather Mackenzie inherits a set of hand-stitched flowers from her late grandmother that match the motifs in the wedding gown worn seventy years earlier by Queen Elizabeth. This discovery sends Heather on a journey to London, England to learn more about her grandmother's mysterious past.

Like Heather, I too visited Buckingham Palace during the Summer Opening in 2016 and saw Queen Elizabeth's wedding gown on display at the exhibition Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from The Queen's Wardrobe. Unfortunately photography isn't allowed inside the palace so I don't have any shots of the gown.

Buckingham Palace, London

Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style
From the Queen's Wardrobe (2016)

But another exhibition on royal fashion at Kensington Palace, Fashion Rules Restyled, did allow photos. The first garment I saw was a beautiful embroidered evening dress made of silk satin with beading, also designed by Norman Hartnell. Known as the "Flowers of the Fields of France" the dress was made for The Queen to wear on the first night of her 1957 royal tour of France.

Norman Hartnell Evening Dress Designed for The Queen,
Fashion Rules Restyled, Kensington Palace (2016)

According to the information plaque "one of the embroiderers, who spent three years working on the gown, recalled that they worked in rooms with blacked out windows to avoid the press and as the dress was so elaborate she hoped The Queen would always sit on plush chairs to avoid the embroidery being smashed".

I also recommend Robson's other historical fiction novels set during the two World Wars.

Novels by Jennifer Robson

Jennifer Robson's web site is jennifer-robson.com.

Related Posts:
Buckingham Palace & The Royal Mews
Kensington Palace & Gardens