Norman Hartnell. Design for a woman's dress, c.1923. Long sleeved grey dress with double train trimmed with green ostrich feathers, matching wide-brimmed hat.

Fashion design for a woman's dress. Long sleeved grey dress with skirt extended into two long double trains lined with green. The hip waistband trimmed with green ostrich feathers, matching wide-brimmed hat with green feathers trailing over the brim.

Given by Norman Hartnell

Norman Hartnell was best known as one of the couturiers to the British royal family. From the late 1930s to the 1970s he designed a wide range of clothes that Queen Elizabeth, her daughters the Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II), and other members of the Royal Family wore for their official duties as well as in their personal lives. He opened his couture house in Bruton Street, Mayfair, London in 1923.

This design, also from 1923, is a form-fitting long dress in pale grey with long tight sleeves and high neckline, the cuffs and collar faced with green. The skirt extends at the sides into two extremely long trains faced with green, one of which is draped over the model's arm as a scarf. The dropped waistband is accented with pale green ostrich feathers dyed to match the linings and facings, and the model wears matching pale green shoes with green and white striped stockings. She also wears a very wide-brimmed grey hat with trailing green feathers which fall over the edge of the brim.

It is difficult to imagine an occasion in 1923 for which such a striking outfit could have been worn. The long sleeves and high neckline do not suggest evening wear of the time, while the long trains would have been impractical for day wear. At first Hartnell had difficulty making sales due to the extravagance of his designs, of which this sketch is probably a representation. He admitted to preferring to design evening wear and relished every opportunity to create lavish designs, including a bridal gown with an immense 18-foot train and floor-sweeping flared sleeves for Margaret Whigham in 1933 (see T.836-1974). However, when he toned down his designs and created more wearable daywear, he saw a marked improvement in his business.
- Daniel Milford-Cottam, May 2012

Norman Hartnell was best known as one of the couturiers to the British royal family. From the late 1930s to the 1970s he designed a wide range of clothes that Queen Elizabeth, her daughters the Princesses Margaret and Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II), and other members of the Royal Family wore for their official duties as well as in their personal lives. He opened his couture house in Bruton Street, Mayfair, London in 1923.

This design, also from 1923, is a form-fitting long dress in pale grey with long tight sleeves and high neckline, the cuffs and collar faced with green. The skirt extends at the sides into two extremely long trains faced with green, one of which is draped over the model's arm as a scarf. The dropped waistband is accented with pale green ostrich feathers dyed to match the linings and facings, and the model wears matching pale green shoes with green and white striped stockings. She also wears a very wide-brimmed grey hat with trailing green feathers which fall over the edge of the brim.

It is difficult to imagine an occasion in 1923 for which such a striking outfit could have been worn. The long sleeves and high neckline do not suggest evening wear of the time, while the long trains would have been impractical for day wear. At first Hartnell had difficulty making sales due to the extravagance of his designs, of which this sketch is probably a representation. He admitted to preferring to design evening wear and relished every opportunity to create lavish designs, including a bridal gown with an immense 18-foot train and floor-sweeping flared sleeves for Margaret Whigham in 1933 (see T.836-1974). However, when he toned down his designs and created more wearable daywear, he saw a marked improvement in his business.

E.30-1943