BRINGS A-LIST FASHION TO LONDON WITH GLAMOROUS GOWNS FROM BEYONCE, LIZZO, BILLIE EILISH AND MORE
Y ou might think that the red carpet is a modern phenomenon, but the glittering world of the Georgian court was putting on a spectacle long before the likes of Lady Gaga, Lizzo and Billie Eilish became household names.
Crown To Couture is a stunning new exhibition at Kensington Palace that explores fascinating parallels between the contemporary red carpet and the world of the 18th-century royal court.
“One of the things that fascinates me is that today we have all these social media videos of celebrities getting ready but, weirdly, it was also quite a public thing in the 18th century,” Polly Putnam, curator of collections at Historic Royal Palaces, tells HELLO!.
“Women of a certain social standing would be given amazing silver toilet services. These were far prettier than they needed to be, but they were objects that were all about show. So this was something of a public event, but also quite a power play,” she says.
Nearly four years in the making, the exhibition is the biggest ever staged at Kensington Palace. It brings together more than 200 pieces, ranging from gowns to handbags and jewellery, and many of the items are instantly recognisable.
The King’s Gallery, which once formed one of the central spaces to see and be seen at the palace, is filled with a stellar line-up of exhibits, including the black and gold Thom Browne outfit that Lizzo wore to last year’s Met Gala in New York and the voluminous green ball gown by Christopher John Rogers, plus horned face mask, that Lady Gaga donned for the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards.
Another standout piece is the showstopping Oscar de La Renta dress – a custom tulle corset gown with a 15ft train – that Billie Eilish wore for her Met Gala debut in 2021.
The singer and animal-rights activist, then 19, agreed to wear the dress on the condition that the fashion house stopped using fur throughout its business. “It is a beautiful gown – its size, its craftsmanship and the fact that [Billie] embodied old Hollywood glamour, looking like Marilyn Monroe,” Polly says.
Fashion has been used to make statements for centuries; despite the length of Billie’s gown, it is dwarfed by its neighbour in the glass cabinet opposite – one of the widest court dresses in existence, worn in 1760. “There’s that immediate visual connecti
