It had been rumored since February that Queen Consort Camilla had commissioned Bruce Oldfield, British couturier and longtime friend of the royal family, to design her coronation dress. It isn’t surprising that Queen Camilla turned to someone she already trusts, having worked with Oldfield to design pieces for other landmark moments, from the 2016 State Opening of Parliament to the 2021 premiere of No Time to Die. Even in her shoot for the July 2022 issue of British Vogue—her first solo appearance in the magazine—Camilla opted to wear a Bruce Oldfield design, a lace evening gown in royal blue selected from her personal wardrobe.
“The embellishment of the Coronation dress features delicate garlands of abstract wildflowers from fields and hedgerows: daisy chains, forget-me-nots, celandine, and scarlet pimpernel, representing The King and The Queen Consort’s affection for nature and the British countryside,” Buckingham Palace revealed in a statement.
It continued, “Celebratory bunting, in antique gold and silver thread, intertwine amongst the swathes of wildflowers. Embellishing the front hem area of the underskirt and the cuffs of each sleeve are the flower emblems of the four nations of the United Kingdom—a rose, a thistle, a daffodil, and a shamrock. In designing the garment, Bruce Oldfield’s vision was to create a sophisticated and modern dress that showcases Her Majesty’s style and personality in its details. Her Majesty’s shoes were made by British designer Elliot Zed and are made of the same silk fabric as the dress.”
While Oldfield of course kept silent about the exact nature of his creation in the run-up to May 6, he did recently share with The Guardian details about the first time that he met Camilla during an event at Clarence House. “It was the time when she’d fallen down in Scotland and sprained her ankle,” he recalled. “So because she couldn’t walk around, she sat in a chair, and they put half a dozen chairs around her, and her stewards brought five or six people at a time to sit and talk to her. But they brought me on my own. And she said: ‘Now, Bruce, I think it’s time that we actually made a few dresses, don’t you?’” And make a few dresses they did.
Oldfield graduated from Central Saint Martins in 1973 and, after working with Henri Bendel in New York, launched his eponymous label in 1975. His brand has always had a strong connection with high-profile clients: His first celebrity commission came courtesy of Bianca Jagger, who tasked him with altering a suit that once belonged to Rita Hayworth.
It was Diana, Princess of Wales, though, who made Bruce Oldfield a favorite of the ’80s, with the designer working closely with British Vogue’s Anna Harvey to put together a wardrobe for the young princess befitting a modern royal.
“I met the princess a few weeks after her wedding,” Oldfield told British . “I think for all of us there was always this problem that there wasn’t a clear idea of how she should dress. She was aware that even in some far-flung part of the world, she was representing Britain, and she couldn’t be a glamorous clotheshorse. I remember one occasion where I urged her to shorten her skirt. But she still resisted going too far. I said, ‘You should look at the miniskirts Princess Margaret wore in the ’60s.’ At the very beginning she didn’t care about clothes, but gradually she grew to enjoy fashion. One thing I noticed was that she’d lock her knees backwards. She wore her skirts below the knee at that time and I’d look at pictures of her and think, ‘What the hell is she doing?’ Then I realised that she was pushing those knees backwards, I’d tell her not to and she’d say, ‘Stop nagging.’”
Perhaps their greatest triumph together? When Diana encouraged Oldfield to stage a fundraising gala for Barnardo’s at Grosvenor House in 1985, with the Princess of Wales attending as the guest of honor in a silver gown of his creation. Not only did the event sell out (despite the exorbitant ticket prices) thanks to Diana’s star power, but the young royal sat next to Oldfield throughout the night—something the designer would later recall as “an extraordinary moment.”
“There was the future Queen of England and there was me,” he told Tina Brown in The Diana Chronicles. “I certainly can’t imagine a scenario where Norman Hartnell would have sat next to the Queen. The fact it was allowed to happen marked a new age.”
This post was originally published in British
