Thomas Murray, with Virginia Soenksen and Anna Jackson, Textiles of Japan

Abstract

emerges of Alexandra’s agency and talent for choosing garments both appropriate for the occasion and individual in taste. Chapter 2 examines Alexandra’s engagement and marriage, where the frugality of her Danish childhood was evident in the assembling of clothes for the wedding and trousseau. Here close object study demonstrates its rewards: while outwardly conforming to the need to wear clothing of British manufacture, Alexandra also inserted a personal good luck charm — some gifted lace of European manufacture — inside the dress. Chapter 3 analyses Alexandra’s evening and court dresses, showing how, both in colour and decoration, their evolution mirrored changes in her personal life; for example, the change from bright to muted colours following the death of her eldest son, Albert Victor. Chapter 4 explores Alexandra’s travel outfits, highlighting the hybrid outfits that incorporated elements of local clothing traditions into her own clothing, sometimes for comfort and practicality, sometimes for diplomacy; for example, when Alexandra visited Ireland she wore dresses made from green fabric and decorated with shamrocks. The theme of dressing for effect recurs in Chapter 5, which addresses Alexandra’s fancy-dress clothing. Strasdin suggests that her propensity to appear as a queen — Mary Queen of Scots for the 1871 Waverley Ball and Marguerite Valois for the 1897 Devonshire Ball — demonstrates a subversive streak, playing at queen while still a queen-in-waiting. Equally fascinating is the exploration of what Strasdin terms ‘like dressing’, adopted by Alexandra and her sister Dagmar for the latter’s visit in 1873, when the two chose a series of identical garments to highlight their sisterly affection and offer a performance of kinship and imperial ties. Chapter 6 considers Alexandra’s contributions to fashion through her collaborations with tailors, including her role in the rising fortunes of Isle of Wight tailor John Redfern. Queen Victoria is the first royal to spring to mind when thinking of mourning dress, but Chapter 7’s discussion of Alexandra’s mourning clothing reminds us that Queen Victoria was not setting a trend but rather amplifying and personifying a well-established tradition. The distinction between the clothes worn by Victoria, queen in her own right, and Alexandra as a queen consort, recurs in Chapter 8’s analysis of coronation robes. The chapter also demonstrates Alexandra’s involvement in design choices, such as the mantle’s all-over embroidery, which followed Danish, rather than British, tradition. The book contains a good mixture of coloured plates, many of which illustrate surviving garments, and black and white images, although, as with other books in the Bloomsbury Dress and Fashion Research Series, they leave the reader desiring more. The index contains some oddities that might hinder a reader searching for particular references (‘sumptuous lace’ under ‘s’, rather than ‘lace’ under ‘l’; ‘woven plaid shawl’ under ‘w’, rather than ‘shawl’ under ‘s’). In general, however, this book more than fulfils its title’s promise, taking us deep into the royal wardrobe and providing an invaluable source for any researcher of royal dress.