For season three, Amy Roberts was brought on board as the series new costume designer. The Crown fans who have binged the entire series will have already seen the variety of outfits the Queen wears and will remember the iconic postal pink two-piece dress suit Oliva Colman wore in her first scene as Queen Elizabeth II.
The real meaning behind the Queen’s outfits
Olivia Coleman replaces Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown season three.
In every scene, the Queen is seen in a different outfit.
Although not immediately obvious to viewers, the costumes that Olivia Colman and other cast members are very important to the show’s storyline.
Wayne Martin, a Senior Lecturer in Costume and Performance Design at Arts University Bournemouth explained the importance behind the show’s costumes.
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Martin said: “The Crown is certainly well-researched, using accurate and period-correct fabrics, colour palette and cut of costume.
“The Crown’s Costume Designer, Amy Roberts, has replicated costumes for key historical events; being more liberal in choices for less-documented and more intimate private occasions.”
In a behind-the-scenes video, Colman said: “The Queen has a different outfit almost for every scene and they’re all handmaid and they’re all beautiful.”
Martin also explained the difference between the Queen’s and her sister Princess Margaret’s (played by Helena Bonham Carter) style.
He said: “There’s clear distinction between the Queen’s stable and business-like clothing which indicates the monarchy by using clean lines, soft pastels and blocks of strong colour, and Princess Margaret’s wardrobe which affords her more freedom, expressing a fashionable and flamboyant quality which later comes to epitomise the look of the 1960s.”
The difference between Princesses Margaret and the Queen’s outfit can be seen when the Prince of Wales (Tobias Menzies) is invested in 1969 at Caernarfon Castle.
Coleman wears a replica of the Queen’s Tudor-era French hood, which was embroidered with pearls. She wore a matching light yellow-gold dress to match.
At the same ceremony, Helena Bonham Carter as Princess Margaret was pictured in a replica bright pink coat and dress.
Princess Margaret would also wear much bolder colours and would wear outfits that reflected fashion trends rather than tradition.
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For example, at her meeting with President Johson (Clancy Brown) in episode two, Princess Margaret is seen in a typical 1960s off the shoulder dress with bold prints, something which the Queen is never seen in.
Speaking to Harper’s Baazar, Roberts said: “The Queen and Margaret’s fabrics, you could tell at a glance who was who.
“The Queen, I just felt she seemed more settled, so we’ve kept her pretty much in a palette of sugared almond colours. Margaret is slightly darker, bruised if you like, a bit like her.”
Martin added: “You only have to look at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and what she wore visiting the war-ravaged East End in the 1940s to understand how wearing flowing crepe and soft pastels exuded a certain warmth and caring towards the British public now synonymous with the British Monarchy.”
