King Edward VII: Taste in Clothes

[LouisFerdinand]

King Edward VII of Great Britain's taste in clothes was generally conservative.     
He attempted to prevent the demise of the frock coat and to revive the fashion of wearing knee-breeches with evening dress.

[Curryong]

^ Edward VII had an influence on fashion, all the same. He invented the front crease down men's trouser legs after his valet mistakenly put the creases in the front instead of the sides one day.

Bertie, Prince of Wales,  was credited with inventing the blazer and the dinner jacket for informal occasions. (In his day males generally wore white tie to dine.) Men began to wear the bottom button of a jacket undone after he did so (to relieve pressure on his paunch. Bertie was always hugely fat.) He also popularised the Homburg hat.

As King he loved to wear fancy foreign uniforms when on visits to other monarchies. His mother Victoria had forbidden him to accept the Colonelcies of foreign regiments and so he had been deprived of the pleasure for many years. All in all, Edward VII was a bit of a peacock!

[LouisFerdinand]

King Edward VII refused to wear a Panama hat and derided those who did.     
Edward continued to wear a silk hat while riding in Rotten Row long after this was considered old-fashioned.

[LouisFerdinand]

Prince Albert the Prince Consort had remarked, "Unfortunately he (Albert Edward) takes no interest in anything but clothes. Even when out shooting he is more occupied with his trousers than with the game."

[Curryong]

Prince Albert was a very serious-minded individual. Both parents were quite hard on Bertie, who was a Hanoverian by nature like his mother, not an intellectual like his father and elder sister. Yes, Edward had many faults but he had people-skills and he didn't make a bad King.

[LouisFerdinand]

Edward was a patron of Saville Row. He liked to wear a "refer" jacket, originally of naval origin and popular for yachting.

[LouisFerdinand]

The sight of King Edward VII on a German railway station in a green cap, pink tie, white gloves and brown overcoat induced the Tailor and Cutter to express the fervent hope that King Edward had not brought this outfit home.

[edweena]

^ Edward VII had an influence on fashion, all the same. He invented the front crease down men's trouser legs after his valet mistakenly put the creases in the front instead of the sides one day.

Bertie, Prince of Wales,  was credited with inventing the blazer and the dinner jacket for informal occasions. (In his day males generally wore white tie to dine.) Men began to wear the bottom button of a jacket undone after he did so (to relieve pressure on his paunch. Bertie was always hugely fat.) He also popularised the Homburg hat.

As King he loved to wear fancy foreign uniforms when on visits to other monarchies. His mother Victoria had forbidden him to accept the Colonelcies of foreign regiments and so he had been deprived of the pleasure for many years. All in all, Edward VII was a bit of a peacock!

He was very popular and fat, short temper but very nice, hated having people bullied, say the son of Downtown Abbey's earl, he loved food, created all about English breakfast etc and he was fashion maven, fussy with tailoring, dress code, he sent an ambassador packing for wrong dress :lol: but he was also inovator. Edward VIII inherited a lot from him, all those untypical mixes into formal wear etc. The Windsors from Edward VII wore bold colours, mainly on his tartan suits. When he spent his relax days in Marianbad, the German papers wrote they hope HRH Prince of Wales doesn't return back to UK though German states because he was clash of bold colours. His son George V was punctual and boring, but he still loved bold coloured tartans, his son Edward called David was famous fashion icon, all those colour and pattern clashes and mixes. You can see it in Suzy Menkes book about him, also his innovative house design. He had the gift like his grandfather to use say cable knit jumper of sailors and fishermen into formal tweed suit etc. It was shock for those times but people followed him because he had finger on the streetstyle pulse. Also Edward VII is known to wear just linen suit for Goodwood, telling some duke isn't important for future king to wear stiff formal suit. The reason was perhaps hot summer and fat body of Edward VII but new fashion for men was born. The original Windsors are known for being fussy with formal wear for formal ocassions, it was Queen Mother who started that horror floaty pastel fashion but she looked good and funny in that,otherwise Diana wasn't style innovator, she was lost as beginning, wearing horror frocks advised by Vogue who aren't royals, Queen's similar style influenced by her aristo born mother. She actually improved by age, like Sophie. Otherwise is rumoured that Duke of Devonshire had to raise the bar of dress code for royal area because some distant royal chick fussy with dress code for formal occasions but normally wearing leather leggings complained and blocked Samantha Cameron from some royal event because she had no hat :lol: also Emily Sheffield :lol: who works for Vogue. Has to be nightmare if aristo as real estate manager called Yorkshire manor where fussy dress code chick went to visit that the guide has to wear a tie because a chick was a royal fussy bossy boots and bans everyone from royal enclosure if the girl has too short skirt :lol: Some people has anything to do. I wonder what she thinks about Kate's skirts flying in the wind, heavy eye make up and no updos :hehe: :D Yes Edward VII was fashion innovator but also fussy about dress code.

[LouisFerdinand]

King Edward VII     
King Edward VII | The Gentleman's Digest

[LouisFerdinand]

King Edward VII introduced the crease into men's trousers and the low-cut white waist-coat for wear with a dress coat.

[cate1949]

very interesting- always impressed with the knowledge people on this site have!

Re: the Queen Mother,  I read she wore those fussy girls floaty type dresses because of her body shape - short and stocky -  squarish so she did not look good in the fashions of the day.  She made a visit to Paris and wanted to impress the fashion mavens there so she had a designer (was it Hartnell?) make a wardrobe of white dresses for her in the floaty style which complimented her figure.   She was a huge hit - which was no small thing in fashion conscious Paris and so she adopted that style for the rest of her life.

I read also her daughter Margaret often criticized her in the 60's and on for wearing these old fashioned styles still.

[Curryong]

Elizabeth the Queen Mother was reasonably petite early on. I've seen honeymoon photos, (their honeymoon was spent partly in the East) where she is in an outfit of Chinese tunic and pants and looks tiny. Even when her two daughters were small she wasn't too bad. However she stacked on the pounds later in life that's for sure. No photos of her ever, in a swimsuit, and she stands out in a dress and hat at one swimming pool photo with her husband and friends when they're all wearing swimsuits and looking casual, in the 1930's.

The State Visit to France in the late 1930's was a triumph for her. Elizabeth's mother, Lady Strathmore, died just as the visit was in its planning stages. It couldn't be put off. There were worries about Hitler and tensions were high.

It was equally impossible for Elizabeth to wear mourning clothing to such a fashion capital as well. The honour of British fashion was at stake! So Hartnell pulled out all the stops and created an all white wardrobe for her (including magnificent evening gowns) which was greatly admired by the French. White is of course a mourning colour, especially if the dead person is female (or a child!)

I think the Queen Mother just liked that floaty style which together with her floral hats became associated with her. It's said that Queen Elizabeth has really blossomed out fashion wise since her mother's death as the QM had really firm ideas about what a monarch should and shouldn't wear.

[LouisFerdinand]

Photographs of Edward VII wearing a green, plumed Tyrolean hat from Marienbad led to several others being sold at home.

[LouisFerdinand]

When he was at Marienbad, continental tailors came with notebooks and cameras to record any changes in style King Edward VII might have favored since the previous season.

[LouisFerdinand]

Edward VII in a grey coat   
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/85990674106463416