LONDON — It was the age when looks were everything, when towering, bejeweled hair, wide skirts and diamonds as big as robin’s eggs opened the gates to Kensington Palace, to an audience with the kings, queens and princes of Georgian England.
Men, with their shoe buckles glittering and silk stockings padded to create the illusion of muscular calves, were just as status-conscious as the ladies. They dressed like peacocks, hoping to strut past the king’s guards to consort with royals, politicians and fellow power brokers at the palace.
A new show at Kensington Palace, “Crown to Couture,” looks at the showy, status-obsessed Georgians and how they used fashionable dress and elaborate hair, makeup and jewelry to gain access to the British royal court of the 18th and early 19th centuries, under kings George I, II, II and IV.
It also looks at how their legacy is thriving on the red carpet today.
The show, which runs from Wednesday until Oct. 29 at the Kensington Palace State Apartments, showcases more than 200 period and contemporary costumes and decorative objects. They range from the widest surviving court gown in Britain, which measures nearly 10 feet, to the Moschino light-up chandelier dress that Katy Perry wore to the 2019 Met Gala.
There are historical gowns shimmering with silver threads meant to sparkle in the candlelight, and outshining them is the golden dress, by Peter Dundas, that Beyoncé wore for the 2017 Grammy Awards. The latter is on display in the room where monarchs would once have received courtiers, ministers and foreign ambassadors.
The show’s sponsors are the Blavatnik Family Foundation, Cunard and Garrard, so there is a hoard of jewelry on display to match the extreme fashion.
The Dundas ensemble worn by Beyoncé for the 2017 Grammys at “Crown to Couture.”
© Historic Royal Palaces / Peter Dundas for…
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