For the first time, young people have been involved in the creation of a major royal palace exhibition, after curators at Kensington Palace approached teenagers to engage a younger audience in what is seen as a very traditional space.
It’s culminated in Dress Codes – the first ever exhibition positioning young people’s work alongside some of the most significant historic pieces in the royal ceremonial dress collection.
Among the items on display are a red beaded Bruce Oldfield dress worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, on a royal tour to Saudi Arabia in 1986.
Going back a few more decades, there are the two Liberty floral cotton dresses worn in 1936 by then-Princess Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret.
Of the 34 items on show, 15 have never been displayed anywhere before, including a rare mourning bodice worn by Queen Victoria.
The involvement of the young people is seen throughout, on the storyboards and videos they’ve created, describing many of the pieces, as they explore the symbolism of royal fashion, court dress codes and diplomatic dress.
They also produced their own garments in response to the priceless royal pieces, to bring to life themes such as soft power, including a punk-style outfit, inspired by a tartan suit worn by the Duke of Windsor.
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Autumn, 18, who helped produce it said: “It speaks to what we know as a generation and it gets our insight into what we find interesting…
“I think it’s a way of bringing in a whole new audience.”
Sneha, 17, another of the young producers, said: “I was particularly entranced by the collection… Seeing things like Princess Diana’s dresses, and actually looking at what young Elizabeth and Margaret wore, it actually made it feel so much more real, especially because we were able to go to Hampton Court Palace and look at them, up close, and being able to look at all the weaving, it just made it seem more real, like these were real people wearing it.”
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Helene, 17, was particularly interested in Queen Victoria’s sense of style.
She said: “She was a woman in the highest position of power, surrounded by men, many of which may have thought her inadequate or not right for that position, so I loved how her dress took up space and some elements were quite masculine and I was really interested by that power.”
At a time when the soft diplomacy of the Royal Family has been in the spotlight and discussions around power dressing, it was one of the distinctive themes drawn out by the teenagers involved.
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Matthew Storey, collections curator at Historic Royal Palaces, said: “This is such a well-informed generation so they were interested in the politics, and the history as well as the design, of the objects that I care for every day and that was wonderful, they really tested my knowledge as well, [they] asked some amazing, searching questions so they brought out the best in me and the other professionals working on it. It was a genuine two-way collaborative experience.”
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More than three years in the making, Dress Codes brings together pieces from the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection from 1870 to the present.
The exhibition runs at Kensington Palace from 13 March to 30 November.
