The ensemble worn by HRH The Countess of Wessex to the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in April 2011, will go on display in the Fashion Museum Bath’s new Royal Women exhibition.
Photo © Bath Museums
Kindly lent and especially selected by HRH The Countess of Wessex for the exhibition in Bath, this royal wedding ensemble consists of a 2011 Bruce Oldfield ecru silk jacket and skirt worn with a feather and rose ecru silk hat by Jane Taylor.
Her Royal Highness’s ensemble will be displayed alongside fashions worn by successive generations of women in the Royal Family, including Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret.
The exhibition curator, Elly Summers, said: “We are delighted to be able to display the matching jacket and skirt worn by HRH The Countess of Wessex to the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.
“This stylish, modern look will bring the Royal Women exhibition right up to date, illustrating the progression of fashion across five generations of women in the Royal Family.”
Councillor Paul Myers, (Conservative Midsomer Norton Redfield) cabinet member for Economic and Community Regeneration at Bath & North East Somerset Council, which runs the Fashion Museum, said: “We are very grateful to HRH The Countess of Wessex for the loan of the ensemble by fashion designer Bruce Oldfield that she chose to wear to the royal wedding in 2011.
We hope that the Royal Women exhibition will attract new visitors to the Fashion Museum from all over the country.
Wives and daughters, sisters and mothers; none of the women featured in Royal Women were regnant yet they all played a key role in the British monarchy.
The exhibition will examine their sartorial lives, looking at each woman’s unique style, the role they played within the monarchy and how that was reflected in their choice of dress.
Exquisite items of dress from the Fashion Museum collection will be included in the exhibition, together with a major loan from the Royal Collection, generously lent by Her Majesty The Queen.
Royal Women will open at the Fashion Museum Bath on 3rd February 2018 and run until 28th April 2019.
