Top 25+ of Queen Elizabeth’s best fashion moments through the years

The Queen could always be spotted in a crowd thanks to her love of bright colors.

Over seven decades on the throne, Queen Elizabeth developed one of the most recognizable personal styles in the world. Her early years as queen were marked by the formal gowns and hourglass silhouettes befitting a young monarch in the postwar era, designed by the likes of Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies.

One of the most striking images of the future monarch depicts her not in a sparkling tiara or flowing gown, but in a military uniform. Photographed at Aldershot, Surrey, in 1945, then-Princess Elizabeth at 18-years-old stands before an L-plated truck during her service as a Second Subaltern in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (the women's branch of the British Army), where she trained as a driver and mechanic and later received a promotion to honorary Junior Commander. While military service has long been a royal tradition, Elizabeth was the first female member of the British royal family to serve full-time in the armed forces.

In her later years, her wardrobe was overseen by Angela Kelly, her longtime personal dresser, who helped shape the consistent aesthetic of bright, block-color coats and coordinating hats that the Queen became known for in the last chapters of her reign. She was famously pragmatic about her color choices, favoring vivid shades, which made her easy to spot in photographs and from a distance in large crowds. So many of these pieces have since been included in landmark fashion exhibition at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style, under the care of the Royal Collection.

Queen Elizabeth’s wedding dress might be one of the most famous in history, and in post-World War II Britain, it symbolized hope and optimism for an entire nation. Amid austerity and strict rationing, the then-Princess Elizabeth saved 200 ration coupons, but people across the country started sending in their own, worried for her that it wasn’t enough. However, given it was illegal to transfer them, each ration coupon was politely returned with a note.

When Elizabeth walked down the aisle in 1947 for her wedding to Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey, she wore a custom ivory silk gown decorated with 10,000 seed pearls that required 350 women and seven weeks of work to make. Designer Norman Hartnell later said he wanted it to be “the most beautiful dress [he] had so far made."

Here is a look back at 25 of Queen Elizabeth’s most memorable style moments, arranged chronologically, over the course of her 70-year monarchy.

Purple is known to be the color of royalty, but lavender is particularly symbolic in Scotland given how abundant the flower is in the country. For the Armed Forces Act of Loyalty Parade, held in the gardens of Edinburgh’s Palace of Holyroodhouse in June 2022, Queen Elizabeth wore an all-lavender ensemble by long-time personal dresser Angela Kelly for the summertime event.

The Queen also wore a particularly meaningful diamond brooch, featuring Scotland’s national flower—the thistle—with a large amethyst embedded on it, surrounded by diamond and emerald accents. It would mark one of her final public appearances.

For what would become her final major public appearance, celebrating her Platinum Jubilee and 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth stood out once again in one of her trademark color-block looks: A vivid green wool-crepe dress and coat, designed by Stewart Parvin, with a matching hat by Rachel Trevor-Morgan. She accessorized with one of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Bow brooches once again.

There might be no accessory more ubiquitous, or necessary, in Great Britain as an umbrella. Queen Elizabeth—who personified the motto “Keep Calm, Carry On”—did just that under a clear Fulton umbrella by carrying on with her day at one of her favorite annual events, Royal Ascot, in 2019.

Royal Ascot is known for its elaborate hats, and the Queen outdid herself here with a robin’s egg blue creation adorned with floral detailing. She also wore Prince Albert’s sapphire and diamond brooch again, this time pinned to a silk bourrette tweed coat by Angela Kelly.

Few designer brands are as emblematic of British fashion as Burberry. Queen Elizabeth demonstrated a timeless travel ensemble when arriving at King's Lynn railway station in Norfolk in 2018, wearing a classic camel-colored topcoat and Burberry’s distinct checkered scarf. (Burberry has since introduced a limited capsule collection inspired by Queen Elizabeth, which includes an olive belted car coat and a silk scarf featuring a print of her beloved corgis.)

Few wardrobes could rival the Queen's coat collection, which seemed to cover nearly every shade on the Pantone color chart. Here, she’s seen wearing a burnt orange wool coat with fur cuffs and a matching fur hat while on the traditional Christmas walk at Sandringham in 2013. She also has pinned on one of Queen Victoria’s three bow brooches. Created in 1858 by Garrard from 497 brilliant cut stones that she supplied, the bows were later handed down to Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary, both of whom wore them at their respective coronations. However, there are no known photos of Victoria ever wearing the bow brooches.

It’s generally a rule not to upstage a bride on her wedding day. While the Queen did not do such a thing back in 2011, she did stand out in this buttercup yellow coat dress and hat by Angela Kelly that she wore to Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton. Perhaps what is most breathtaking about this outfit is the large jewel she is wearing, which is known as the Lover’s Knot brooch and was part of Queen Mary’s collection. Not to be confused with the Lover’s Knot tiara (which, incidentally, is a favorite of Kate’s), this bow-shaped diamond brooch belonged to Elizabeth’s grandmother after she bought it from the official royal jewelers at the time, Garrard, in 1932.

Walking with then-Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič in the High Tatras Mountains while on a state visit in 2008, Queen Elizabeth was après-ski ready in this wintry mix of a tweed coat with a fur collar and cuffs, paired with a sparkly structured hat.

One of Queen Elizabeth’s regularly scheduled formal occasions was at the State Opening of Parliament. It’s hard to pay attention to any other detail of a look when one is wearing the State Diadem, as seen here in 2006. Elizabeth certainly looked glamorous in this white beaded column gown covered in crystals, while draped in a luxurious white fur stole. Later, Queen Elizabeth would became the first royal to ban the use of fur in all of her new outfits.

Dressed casually in countryside attire for the 2002 Royal Windsor Horse Show, this outfit shows Queen Elizabeth at her core. Here she’s wearing a quilted vest, known as a body warmer, over a dark top, with a patterned wool skirt, a headscarf, and black Wellington boots. Thanks to her, it’s since become known as “Balmoral style,” referring to the royal family’s summer retreat in the Scottish Highlands, which requires practical clothing in rural settings.

The Queen was known for her love of color, but she never wore anything quite like this. In November 1999, Elizabeth arrived for the Royal Variety Performance in Birmingham wearing this “Harlequin” dress, featuring a multi-colored ensemble comprised of a top made of rainbow sequins and a bright yellow skirt.

Following royal protocol for traditional mourning attire, Queen Elizabeth wore a black long-sleeved dress and a matching hat to Princess Diana's funeral in September 1997. She also wore the Pearl Triangle Brooch, a narrow, Art Deco-style piece set with two pearls and a central canary yellow diamond, one of the more distinctive and personally meaningful pieces in her collection. She had worn it just days earlier for her televised address to the nation on the eve of the funeral, making it the brooch most visually associated with that week of national mourning. (A re-creation also appears during the final season of The Crown.)

Queen Elizabeth looked like a movie star when she stepped out onto a red carpet in this flowing white gown embroidered with silver for a banquet with the Amir of Kuwait at Claridge’s Hotel in London 1995. She also looks to be wearing the Belgian Sapphire Tiara and the George VI Sapphire Parure.

Queen Elizabeth really leaned into the iconic bright hues and patterns of the ‘80s with this yellow skirt suit featuring a distinct black “splatter” print at the Epsom Derby in 1987. For the summer event, she completed the look with a wide-brimmed hat but also white gloves and pearl earrings.

Puffy sleeves were all the rage in the 1980s. Only Queen Elizabeth could find a way to make them look elegant in this cream satin gown with a smattering of sparkles on the frills, while delivering a speech at a banquet in San Francisco in 1983.

The late Queen’s signature fashion accessory was not a tiara, but a silk headscarf. Here, Elizabeth is bundled up in a red wool cape with a pink and purple patterned scarf at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, one of her favorite annual events over the course of her life, in 1979.

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip embarked on a royal tour of New Zealand in 1977 as part of her Silver Jubilee celebrations. Her stylists worked overtime for this trip, and there are a number of memorable looks to choose from. But this mid-century style, cobalt blue and ivory suit, with the Cambridge Pearl Pendant brooch pinned to it, felt both true to her style while being exceptionally chic for the time period.

Seen here walking with then-Finnish President Urho Kekkonen, Queen Elizabeth wore this vibrant green, sequined gown with the Grand Duchess Vladimir tiara for a state banquet in Helsinki in 1976.

The Queen never dressed down for the theater. She wore this heavily embellished, floral patterned gown with a white fur stole, a metallic clutch, and the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara while attending a West End premiere in 1973.

Both Jackie Kennedy and Queen Elizabeth wore blue to a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in 1961, when the First Lady and President John F. Kennedy came to London on an official visit. The Queen stood out in her tulle ballgown, designed by Hartnell, paired with white opera gloves and a matching clutch. Elizabeth also appears to be wearing the sapphire and diamond Prince Albert Brooch, which was a wedding gift to Queen Victoria from her fiancé, Prince Albert.

One of Hartnell’s most celebrated creations was this ballgown the Queen wore on her state visit to Paris in 1957. Known as “The Flowers of the Fields of France,” the ivory duchesse silk satin gown was designed specifically for the occasion, with embroidery that served as a deliberate act of diplomatic flattery. The lavish gold and white beadwork, worked in relief across the fitted bodice and full floor-length skirt, incorporated miniature bees—the emblem of Napoleon—alongside wheat, grasses, and wildflowers rendered in faceted glass, gold beads, brilliants, pearls, and mother-of-pearl petals. A dramatic self-fabric bow extended down the back of the skirt. The gown was worn once and is now held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

There are few figures from the 20th century who produced photos as iconic as Marilyn Monroe. But in 1956, Queen Elizabeth proved no one outshines the Crown. “There’s a famous picture of the Queen with Marilyn Monroe,” Stewart Parvin, a fashion designer and one of the Queen’s most trusted dressmakers, told The Telegraph this month. “Marilyn is wearing a very revealing dress but you look at the Queen, who’s in an amazing black [Norman] Hartnell gown and a tiara and your eye in the picture goes to her, not to Marilyn.”

For the royal premiere of the war film The Battle of the River Plate, Queen Elizabeth wore something simple but striking: an off-the-shoulder black velvet gown with a fitted bodice and full skirt. She paired the gown with the Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara, with the emeralds installed, along with a diamond necklace and white opera-length gloves.

Also designed by Hartnell, Queen Elizabeth’s ivory silk gown for her 1953 coronation featured a sweetheart neckline and delicate lattice design, embroidered in pastel silks with the national emblems of the United Kingdom— the rose (England), the thistle (Scotland), the daffodil (Wales), and the shamrock (Northern Ireland)—alongside symbols representing Commonwealth nations including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, India, and Pakistan, all decorated with seed pearls, sequins, and crystals. The finished gown weighed 30 pounds. She completed the look with gold pumps by Roger Vivier featuring a jewel-encrusted heel and fleurs-de-lis pattern, and wore a diamond necklace and earrings originally made for Queen Victoria.

For Prince Charles’s christening portrait in 1948, Princess Elizabeth wore a structured, long-sleeved coat dress with a prominent folded collar and large buttons, topped with an elaborate sculptural hat featuring an upswept brim. The most notable accessory was Queen Mary’s Dorset Bow Brooch, made by London jeweler Carrington & Co. in 1893. It was given to Queen Elizabeth’s grandmother, Mary of Teck, as a wedding present alongside the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara when Mary married George, the Duke of York.