The Queen at the London Fashion Week

The Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II attended her first ever Fashion event along with 91 others from the fashion industry during the Richard Quinn show at London Fashion Week recently. She sat next to Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, also known as the Queen of Fashion.

The first recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Award was British fashion designer Richard Quinn, whose runway show is watched by the Queen. Designer Richard Quinn is an emerging talent in the United Kingdom who has been recognized for his exceptional prints. 

 

While giving the award the monarch said, “as a tribute to the industry and as my legacy to all those who have contributed to British fashion, I would like to present this award for new, young talent. I would like to thank the British Fashion Council for selecting the first winner - Richard Quinn.”

 

The Queen Elizabeth II Award is the brainchild of Angela Kelly, who is a close confidantes and personal advisor to the Queen. She has been working on designing an award, which The Queen wanted to give in recognition of emerging British fashion talent for the past two years. The Queen Elizabeth II Award will be awarded to an emerging British fashion designer of both exceptional talent and originality, also who will demonstrate a social conscience and sustainable policies, annually by a member of the Royal Family.

 

The 91 year old monarch, who wore an Angela Kelly duck egg blue dress and jacket embellished with tiny Swarovski crystal, expressed "great pleasure" to be at London Fashion Week. She also acknowledged how the fashion industry has in England has flourished from time to time, describing them she said “from Hebrides to Nottingham and Carnaby Street, our fashion industry has been renowned for outstanding craftsmanship for many years, and continues to produce world-class textiles and cutting edge, practical designs.”

The Queen was welcomed by Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council, while thanking the Queen, said, “for all of us in this room, who have the upmost respect for you and also for the hard work, diligence, cultural impact on our industry, we know that you undoubtedly the fashion icon, though you do not wish to be known like wise. All these years, you have acknowledged the importance of fashion and used as a tool for diplomacy and to communicate understanding between cultures and nations.”

The Queen's visit to the London Fashion Week, which was held at its main centre in London, was kept a secret and therefore when she arrived silently it caused a ripple of astonishment among the fashion fraternity present there.

 

Designer Richard Quinn, was on the moon on being awarded by the Queen, while describing the award as an ‘absolute honour’ he said he was so touched that she has chosen his show to attend in her first visit to London Fashion Week, “Initially it was like a dream for me when she arrived and then I hit myself and said, that ‘oh, this is not a prank!’ It was really nice, though. It is a real privilege for me”, he said.

 

On asked about the Queen’s visit, the Chief Executive of the Royal Fashion Council, Carole Rush said, ‘the queen was particularly keen to hear from the jewelery designers about where they make it and the craftsmanship. The Queen also was trying to understand the difficulties in running a business.

 

Carole also said, the Queen was so particular and was minutely watching the details, an imperfect diamond caught her eyes, she later said that now imperfect diamonds are used beautifully though traditionally many prefer the perfect ones.

 

Carole added, ‘London Fashion Week is known globally for its creativity and a lot of that comes from our emerging talent. The Queen herself has recognised this annual event and has created an award to be given is incredibly significant and important. A lot of people look to our royal family for style and now with the royal profile it will be amazing and incredible to promote British businesses keeping with their own style means they are real ambassadors of our fashion industry”.

At the end of the show the queen clapped briefly, but politely, as the fashion crowd whooped and cheered the designer.

 

At the start of this week Kate Middleton, the Duchess Of Cambridge hosted a Commonwealth Fashion Exchange event at Buckingham Palace, showcasing talent from 53 countries and highlighting fashion as a common language and powerful platform.