Camilla’s coronation dress designer reveals insider insight about the process
nypost.comTatler Magazine‘s July issue. Oldfield, 72, is a British couturier and royal favorite whose designs have also been worn by Princess Diana in the past.
He has been dressing Her Majesty for over a decade now, but described designing her coronation gown as “the biggest commission of [his] life.”Oldfield revealed that he was asked “late last year” to design the dress, which featured an intricately beaded design and Marigold-yellow colored embroidery – even including her own two dogs on the bottom of the dress’ hem.He detailed that they did three fittings of a mock-up dress, called a “toile,” with Queen Camilla before taking a break for Christmas.Part of Queen Camilla’s look also included an embroidered underskirt, according to People.
The big day in May then soon arrived – and Oldfield and Sophie Rowe, who he describes as his “sidekick and fitter extraordinaire,” were there at Westminster Abbey to make sure everything went smoothly in terms of her wardrobe. “We were there to make sure that Her Majesty looked fabulous and that her dress was perfectly set out,” Oldfield wrote in Tatler. “The Queen arrived wearing a simple ermine trimmed mantle (a cloak that is worn over the dress), which we later removed – it was quite a job – and replaced with a heavily embroidered mantle.”“When everything was fixed in place, we went back to our seats,” he continued about the day. “The mantles are a standard, traditional part of the coronation regalia and are constructed and embroidered by a specialist maker.
So that the train of the dress does not show beyond the end of either mantle, at the toile stage we were careful to ensure that the lengths of each worked perfectly together.”And, whether or not the public liked the dress is something.
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