Norman Hartnell
The Fashion World
“As a rule, ladies of the Royal Family wear light coloured clothes because such colours are more discernible against a crowd”. He gained the Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Queen ELizabeth II in 1940 and in 1957. His first commission (for the ladies of the Royal Family) was to design the wedding dress and bridesmaids dresses for the marriage of Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott to Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. The two bridesmaids were the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. His most famous design was the Coronation dress of Elizabeth II. He was Norman Hartnell.
Born in 1901 in Streatham, south-west London, Norman was an undergraduate at Cambridge University. With financial help from his father and his sister Phyllis ( his first business partner), Norman opened his own business at 10, Bruton Street, Mayfair, in 1923. Norman acquired a clientele of debutantes and their mothers, who desired the latest designs for the London Season. He designed gowns for evenings, weddings, afternoons and for Presentations at Court. Film stars (Anna Neagle, Evelyn Laye, Alice Delysia) also came to Norman for his latest designs.
CoCo Chanel showed a keen interest in Norman’s designs, starting with his 1927 and 1929 collections. Norman specialised in expensive and lavish embroidery, having the largest ‘in-house’ embroidery workroom in London. The embroidery of “his”…
