Fashioning the Crown: Justine Picardie in conversation with Oriole Cullen

"A romp through British royal fashion and image-making between the Edwardian era and 1960…Compelling and well-researched" - New York Times

Published ahead of the centenary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth, Justine Picardie’s beautifully-illustrated 2026 book, Fashioning the Crown, uncovers the hidden history of the Crown and how it survived a tumultuous era and two world wars.

From the birth of the house of Windsor in 1917, its leading women - Queen Mary, the Queen Mother, the Duchess of Windsor and Queen Elizabeth II - faced the perils of abdication and assassination, revolution and the rise of fascism, the threat of invasion and all-out war. Their sartorial decisions, alongside those of their royal husbands, projected power and perpetuity, diplomacy and defiance.

In this cinematic story of espionage and exquisite couture, Justine Picardie reveals the undercover lives of the creators behind the façade - including Hardy Amies, Cecil Beaton, Norman Hartnell and Edward Molyneux - and traces the ways in which visual iconography safeguarded the monarchy, even when their reign seemed to be hanging by a thread.

Justine Picardie explores the book in conversation with Oriole Cullen, Senior Curator of Fashion and Textiles at The Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

A Q&A and book signing will follow the talk. Please note, we cannot offer refunds for ticketed events. Professional photography and videography may take place during this event.

Justine Picardie Image: Richard Phibbs