Fashioning the Crown: A Story of Power, Conflict, and Couture

Novelist and fashion writer Picardie (Coco Chanel) takes a thorough look at the 20th-century British royal family through the lens of high fashion and public image making. Picardie focuses on the lifetime of Elizabeth II (1926–2022), with occasional forays into the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Clothing, Picardie asserts, was fundamental to creating the female royals’ image, from the power, stability, and family unity projected by Elizabeth, to Wallis Simpson’s use of couture to cultivate a sense of audacity. (She favored the bright and dynamic designs of Elsa Schiaparelli, known for collaborating with Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau.) The most intriguing aspect of Picardie’s otherwise by-the-book royal history is her extensive archival research into (and some original interviews with) the royals’ favorite couturiers, who provide keen insights as well as their own drama, including love affairs and espionage work. The somewhat stolid prose is enlivened by its primary source material, including arch observations from couturiers and aristocrats, as well as the occasional outlandish fashion-related factoid from Picardie, such as when she notes in an account of Simpson’s 1937 meeting with Hermann Göring that the Nazi commander had “an unlikely penchant for Elizabeth Arden products, and enjoyed wearing bright red varnish on his toenails.” Royal watchers will find much of interest. (Feb.)