Queen Elizabeth's fashions far from fickle

Hollywood royalty and their clothes are favorite fodder for stylewatchers.

Queen Elizabeth II smiles as she greets the crowd during a tour of the Jamestown Settlement in Williamsburg, Va., Friday May 4, 2007. While Hollywood royalty and their clothes are favorite fodder for stylewatchers, the lack of interest among the American public in Queen Elizabeth II's wardrobe can be blamed on the fact that she is extremely proper. She dresses exactly as she's expected to for each occasion with no risk of a wardrobe malfunction. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Yet when a bona fide queen comes to these shores -- with pieces from one of the largest privately owned jewelry collections in tow -- we barely take notice of her wardrobe.

Queen Elizabeth II waves to the crowd during a visit to the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., Friday, May 4, 2007. While Hollywood royalty and their clothes are favorite fodder for stylewatchers, the lack of interest among the American public in Queen Elizabeth II's wardrobe can be blamed on the fact that she is extremely proper. She dresses exactly as she's expected to for each occasion with no risk of a wardrobe malfunction. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Queen Elizabeth arrived at the White House for a state dinner in her honor Monday in Washington. (Associated Press)

Why? It's simple: Queen Elizabeth II is extremely proper. She dresses exactly as she's expected to for each occasion with no risk of a wardrobe malfunction.

Sass Brown, a fashion design professor at Manhattan's Fashion Institute of Technology, describes what's become her uniform: a slightly A-line coat, most likely in a pastel color with contrast stitching; a coordinating hat; a below-the-knee dress; a brooch; and a traditional, triangular handbag.

"She's terribly well-known for having a specific sense of style," says Brown, who could outline the queen's outfits without even looking through the dozens of photographs of her visits to Virginia, Kentucky and Washington.

Her sense of style is right in line with that of other 81-year-old women of a certain pedigree, she says.

"Her lack of influence is a reflection of her age," Brown says.

When she was younger, the queen was considered a beauty although never a fashion icon in the way that Princess Diana, her late former daughter-in-law, would become, recalls Brown, who was raised in England.

For her coronation in 1953, Queen Elizabeth II wore a gown with a sweetheart neckline, nipped waist and full skirt, which was very much in line with the look of that era, albeit on the conservative side. And the queen has always been a booster of British designers, especially Norman Hartnell, who was her favorite couturier until his death in 1975.

"She championed British designers in the old style, in the tailored sense of British style," Brown says. "Elizabeth comes from an old and traditional heritage, where it was not acceptable for a lady to go out without a hat or a pair of gloves. It would be like going out without stockings!" Brown says, with a laugh.

While Hollywood royalty and their clothes are favorite fodder for stylewatchers, Queen Elizabeth II's wardrobe results in a distinct lack of interest. That's because she is extremely proper, dressing exactly as she's expected for each occasion.

She adds: "Clearly the younger royals don't adhere to that."

It's worth noting that some of the queen's predecessors were tastemakers of their day.

A round, high-neck collar became the trademark of Queen Elizabeth I in the late 1500s, and Queen Victoria's abundant use of lace, ribbons, bows and other trimmings affected 19th-century fashion around the globe.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II arrived at the Kentucky Derby meeting at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

But Elizabeth II's claim to fame is her consistency.

For her tour of Jamestown, Va., last week, the queen wore a teal blue coat with light blue trim, a teal blue hat, black gloves, pearl earrings and a pearl necklace. At the Kentucky Derby, she had on a pistachio green coat with gold buttons, a red bow-tie hat with a green brim, white gloves, pearl earrings and a pearl necklace.

To the rare white-tie state dinner in her honor at the White House, she turned up in a white beaded scoop-neck gown with three-quarter sleeves worn with long white gloves and a blue sash. But for this special occasion, she traded in her pearls for a heavy dose of diamonds -- tiara and all.