Queen Alexandra's Dress

Queen Alexandra was a Danish princess who married the future Edward VII. She wore this dress to the christening of her grandson, the future Edward VIII, in 1894.

This dress was made in Paris by a dressmaker named Madame Fromont. Alexandra used fashionable foreign suppliers as well as British makers for her wardrobe.

The distinctive shape of this dress came from wearing a corset to help Alexandra achieve a fashionable silhouette.

Alexandra often wore high-necked garments or used chokers or necklaces.

This dress dates to later in her life when Alexandra was almost 50. Only two years earlier her eldest son Prince Albert Victor had died aged 28. Alexandra wore the colours pale mauve, white and black, symbolic of half mourning, for the rest of her life.

This dress was originally a bright lilac colour. Look closely and you can see hints of the original colour in the deep folds of the fabric.