Elizabeth’s beaded 1953 coronation gown is worn with the Imperial State Crown, Coronation necklace, Order of the Garter chain, and the Diamond Cross sceptre. For her Season 1 coronation, Elizabeth’s imperial robe was machine-embroidered with E.R., for Elizabeth Regina, and trimmed in faux ermine.Images: Still Moving//Netlix
This sweet floral dress reflects the lightness of the period following Elizabeth’s wedding, says Season 1 costume designer Michele Clapton, who frequently used blue for its “uniformity and strength.”
Jodhpurs with a jacket and silk scarf is Elizabeth’s country “uniform,” says Season 2 costume designer Jane Petrie, who likens mixing pieces for riding scenes to “putting together [an outfit for] yoga class.”
Another sort of uniform is Elizabeth’s official-visit wardrobe of brightly colored printed coats with matching hats, which was reported to be the approach for the queen when attending public events — like this outfit, worn to a hospital.
In the Season 4 episode in which she meets with each of her children, Elizabeth wears this green tweed skirt suit to visit Charles, reflecting “the more formal and dutied nature” of their relationship, note costume designer Amy Roberts and associate designer Sidonie Roberts. For her Season 1 coronation, Elizabeth’s imperial robe was machine-embroidered with E.R., for Elizabeth Regina, and trimmed in faux ermine.
The queen is always thoughtful when it comes to her color choices. For Christmas at Balmoral, she wears informal country clothes in a seasonal palette. The patterned silk scarf was designed in house exclusively for The Crown by Sidonie Roberts and Rachel Taylor.
Delivering a speech at the Women’s Institute, she wears a silk crepe dress, coat, and hat in a vibrant lime green that draws focus and “highlights her confidence in this arena,” according to costume designer Amy Roberts and associate designer Sidonie Roberts.
For Charles and Diana’s wedding day, costume designer Amy Roberts and associate designer Sidonie Roberts re-created various looks — not just the bride’s — that were worn at the real-life event. Among them is this cheerful mint green silk dress and unlined chiffon coat, its long sleeves edged in roses, worn by the Queen Mother. She tops the outfit with a matching straw, net, and feathered hat.
The royal family is staying at Balmoral when they receive news of Diana’s death. The following Sunday, they attend church at the nearby Crathie Kirk. For the service, Philip wears his traditional Scottish country wardrobe — a tweed waistcoat and jacket over a white shirt, paired with a kilt in the modern Mackenzie regimental tartan — with the addition of a black tie in acknowledgment of the tragic circumstances.
To attend a meeting with her family, Princess Anne opts for a more formal look than her usual at-home wardrobe, instead wearing a cashmere gilet and skirt set with a printed silk shirt. The latter is in an original textile designed exclusively for The Crown by Sidonie Roberts and Rachel Taylor. The only member of her family to re-wear clothes to public events, Anne wears both the shirt and the gilet (separately) in Season 5.
Charles may not be committed to Diana, but he is committed to keeping up appearances — which he does not only by taking a “second honeymoon” with his wife, but also by always looking sharp in an immaculately cut suit. He wears this one, a double-breasted two-piece in a sandy beige with a cornflower blue stripe, when departing for the trip.
Margaret’s style is “more daring and racy” than Elizabeth’s, says Season 1 costume designer Michele Clapton. “Even when she was being formal, there was always something playful.” That contrast is evident in their respective evening wear, as in Season 1 when Margaret wears this off-the-shoulder lilac gown (and Cambridge Lover’s knot tiara) opposite Elizabeth in a more modest gown.
In Helena Bonham Carter’s first appearance as Margaret, she wakes up wearing a blue sleep mask and a groovy swirl-print silk nightdress. Decades later, Lesley Manville’s Margaret reminisces about her romance with Peter Townsend, while wearing a dress in an original print designed by Sidonie Roberts. The print’s watercolor-painted decaying logs are meant “to show the once-promising youthful love affair [is] now but a melancholic memory,” Roberts notes.
Season 4 costume designer Amy Roberts and associate designer Sidonie Roberts often put Margaret Thatcher in her signature blue, with the shades intensifying and silhouettes sharpening in proportion to the ambitious prime minister’s growing power. In this scene, the electric color of her pleated skirt suit (paired with a feminine pussy-bow blouse) declares her success in the moment she wears it — reporting the British victory in the Falklands to the queen.
Diana undergoes a dramatic style evolution. As a bride-to-be in Season 3, she wears a girlish skirt set in a pretty Liberty print to highlight her youthfulness; separated in Season 5, she stuns with an infamous off-the-shoulder “revenge dress.” “Black being usually worn by the royals for mourning, this little black dress symbolizes the death of a marriage,” costume designer Amy Roberts and associate designer Sidonie Roberts explain.
These four iconic characters as young women bring us into every season’s era of fashion, with new styles and silhouettes. In the ’50s, Princess Margaret wears this striped, fitted taffeta dress, which Season 1 costume designer Michele Clapton based on a real-life original. Princess Anne heralds the Swinging ’60s with this blue belted mock-neck dress and a floral printed skirt.
Both Princess Diana and Kate Middleton — outsiders who marry into the royal family — bring a youthful, casual element to The Crown fashion. A style icon of the ’80s and ’90s, Diana wears a Harvard sweatshirt, bike shorts, and Reebok sneakers in Season 5; noughties-chic Kate sports a striped top, quilted gilet, and crystal-encrusted low-rise skinny jeans in Season 6.
Elizabeth’s evening wear evolves over time. In the ’50s, she wears a pale green gown with the Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara and the Godman Necklace. In the ’60s, her beaded jacquard gown is decorated with the George IV State Diadem, Order of the Garter Star, and a Garter sash bearing the King George V and King George VI family orders. In the ’90s, she pairs her pistachio-green organza dress and beaded bolero with Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara and the King Khalid necklace.
