Inside the royal wardrobe : a dress history of Queen Alexandra / Kate Strasdin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Strasdin, Kate, author.

Series:

Dress and fashion research.

Dress and fashion research

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Alexandra, Queen, consort of Edward VII, King of Great Britain, 1844-1925--Clothing.

Alexandra.

Queens--Clothing--Great Britain.

Queens.

Costume--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Costume.

Costume--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Queens--Great Britain--Biography.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (192 pages, 17 numbered pages of plates) : illustrations (some color).

Distribution:

London, England : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020

Place of Publication:

London, England : Bloomsbury Academic, An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2020.

Summary:

Queen Alexandra used clothes to fashion images of herself as a wife, a mother and a royal: a woman who both led Britain alongside her husband Edward VII and lived her life through fashion. Inside the Royal Wardrobe overturns the popular portrait of a vapid and neglected queen, examining the surviving garments of Alexandra, Princess of Wales - who later became Queen Consort - to unlock a rich tapestry of royal dress and society in the second half of the 19th century. More than 130 extraordinary garments from Alexandra's wardrobe survive, from sumptuous court dress and politicised fancy dress to mourning attire and elegant coronation gowns, and can be found in various collections around the world, from London, Oslo and Denmark to New York, Toronto and Tokyo. Curator and fashion scholar Kate Strasdin places these garments at the heart of this in-depth study, examining their relationships to issues such as body politics, power, celebrity, social identity and performance, and interpreting Alexandra's world from the objects out. Adopting an object-based methodology, the book features a range of original sources from letters, travel journals and newspaper editorials, to wardrobe accounts, memoirs, tailors' ledgers and business records. Revealing a shrewd and socially aware woman attuned to the popular power of royal dress, the work will appeal to students and scholars of costume, fashion and dress history, as well as of material culture and 19th century history.

Contents:

Managing the royal wardrobe

Engagement & marriage

Evening and court dress

The travelling princess

logistics of royal travel

Fancy dress

Tailoring

Mourning dress

The coronation gown

Dispersal of a royal wardrobe.

Notes:

Based on the author's thesis (Ph.D.--University of Southampton, 2013) under the title: Fashioning Alexandra.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781474269964

1474269966

9781474269957

1474269958

9781474269940

147426994X

OCLC:

1201426812