Fashioning the Crown: A Story of Power, Conflict and Couture
From the bestselling author of Miss Dior and Coco Chanel, a compelling history of the Crown told through the lens of royal fashion, sharing the secrets that lie beneath its sumptuous surface.
From the birth of the house of Windsor in 1917, its leading women – Queen Mary, the Queen Mother, the Duchess of Windsor and Queen Elizabeth II – faced the perils of abdication and assassination, revolution and the rise of fascism, the threat of invasion and all-out war. Their sartorial decisions, alongside those of their royal husbands, projected power and perpetuity, diplomacy and defiance.
In Fashioning the Crown Justine Picardie draws on original research in the Royal Archives and her own experiences at Balmoral, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace to reveal the undercover lives of the creators behind the facade – and traces the ways in which visual iconography safeguarded the monarchy, even when their reign seemed to be hanging by a thread.
Published ahead of the centenary of the birth of Queen Elizabeth II, and featuring more than 100 beautiful images, this book reveals the reinvention of British monarchy, as it fought to survive a tumultuous era of two world wars.
Justine Picardie is the author of seven books, including the international bestsellers Miss Dior: A Story of Courage and Couture and Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life. Previously the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, she was an investigative journalist for the Sunday Times, columnist for the Telegraph, editor of the Observer Magazine and features director of Vogue.
From the birth of the house of Windsor in 1917, its leading women – Queen Mary, the Queen Mother, the Duchess of Windsor and Queen Elizabeth II – faced the perils of abdication and assassination, revolution and the rise of fascism, the threat of invasion and all-out war. Their sartorial decisions, alongside those of their royal husbands, projected power and perpetuity, diplomacy and defiance.
In Fashioning the Crown Justine Picardie draws on original research in the Royal Archives and her own experiences at Balmoral, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace to reveal the undercover lives of the creators behind the facade – and traces the ways in which visual iconography safeguarded the monarchy, even when their reign seemed to be hanging by a thread.
Published ahead of the centenary of the birth of Queen Elizabeth II, and featuring more than 100 beautiful images, this book reveals the reinvention of British monarchy, as it fought to survive a tumultuous era of two world wars.
Justine Picardie is the author of seven books, including the international bestsellers Miss Dior: A Story of Courage and Couture and Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life. Previously the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, she was an investigative journalist for the Sunday Times, columnist for the Telegraph, editor of the Observer Magazine and features director of Vogue.
Wednesday 11 March 2026 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM (UTC+00)
Location
The Vaughan Williams Auditorium
James Allen's Girls' School, 144 East Dulwich Grove, London, London SE22 8TE
Contact Details
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Fashioning the Crown: A Story of Power, Conflict and Couture
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