5 things The Crown needs to get right about The Queen's 1990s style

The first images of actress Imelda Staunton taking over in the role of Her Majesty the Queen have emerged. Shooting for Netflix’s The Crown has begun in Scotland, with the new series five cast assembling in Macduff and near Covesea Lighthouse.

For the show’s lead costume designer Amy Roberts, the new season of the award winning drama presents a new series of fashion moments to tackle, from Princess Diana’s ‘revenge’ dresses to Princess Anne’s country wardrobe.

In series four, particularly when dressing the new character of Diana, Roberts chose to replicate certain key outfits that the real Diana wore at the time, as well as applying creative license to imagine what she might have worn behind closed doors.

One character whose wardrobe Roberts will need to pay particular attention to for series five, though, is The Queen. While there were plenty of memorable outfits worn by other Royal family members during the 1990s, Her Majesty’s wardrobe was generally more subtle and her style more nuanced.

Here are five sartorial elements that will need to be tackled…

The lowered hemlines

The Queen’s choices of skirt in the 1990s were typically fractionally longer than they had been in the previous decade, and are now - from tartan kilts to pleated satin evening skirts. It’s a subtle change, but one which makes all the difference to her overall silhouette and posture

The pussy-bows

Pussy-bow blouses were one of the 1980s biggest fashion trends, but Her Majesty wore them long into the 1990s. Silk day shirts in subtle (and less subtle) prints were a staple in her wardrobe. It’s a piece that we can already see costume designer Roberts has tackled for Imelda Staunton, in the first images released by Netflix.

The country style

Her Majesty’s approach to country style has altered ever so slightly over the decades - in the 1990s a truly practical wardrobe of quilted coats, knitted layers, tartan kilts and brogues emerged, favoured over the neat tweed skirt suits she had loved before. The one mainstay, of course, is a vivid printed silk headscarf. This outfit, worn at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 1993 may well have inspired the costumes worn by Staunton on the set of The Crown this week.

The occasional ballgown

The 1990s, largely, was a more sombre than celebratory decade for the Royals - but that didn’t mean that the Queen never had fun with her eveningwear. This harlequin sequin dress, worn to attend the Royal Variety Performance in 1999, was a particularly memorable ballgown which we should hope to see recreated on The Crown. Karl-Ludwig Rehse was the designer of the original - the Queen had awarded the Birmingham designer a Royal Warrant in 1997.

The new uniform

Certain outfits that the Queen once relied on had begun to look dated when compared with the new trends dominating in the 1990s. The beginnings of her new ‘forever’ uniform can be seen towards the middle of the decade - colour block skirt suits, top-handle handbags and low block heel shoes begin to make ever more regular appearances. In 2002, the Queen hired Angela Kelly as a personal dresser and dressmaker - Kelly honed and sharpened that formula into the look we all know have associated with Her Majesty as an icon ever since.

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