page_title: Norman Hartnell
section_title: 1934–1940
hierarchical_section_title: Norman Hartnell / 1934–1940
caption_attribution_description: English: London Fashion Designers- the work of Members of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers in Wartime, London, England, UK, 1944 In his London office, fashion designer Norman Hartnell compares his original sketch and fabric sample to the finished garment, worn by a model, which has just been completed in his workrooms. The dress is made from a jewel print fabric, which he designed.
context_page_description: Sir Norman Bishop Hartnell, KCVO was a leading British fashion designer, best known for his work for the ladies of the royal family. Hartnell gained the Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in 1940; and Royal Warrant as Dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth II in 1957.
context_section_description: By 1934 Hartnell's success had outgrown his premises and he moved over the road to a large Mayfair town house already provided with floors of work-rooms at the rear to Bruton Mews. The first floor salon was the height of modernity, like his clothes and the glass and mirror-lined Art Moderne space was designed by the innovative young architect Gerald Lacoste (1909–1983). The interiors of the large late 18th-century town house are now protected as one of the finest examples of art-moderne pre-war commercial design in the UK. The timeless quality of Lacoste's designs was the perfect background for each new season of Hartnell designs, created for aristocratic British women of all ages and worn by most of the famous theatre and film stars of their day, including Vivien Leigh, Gertrude Lawrence, Merle Oberon, Ann Todd, Evelyn Laye, Anna Neagle and trans-Atlantic stars such as Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor and Linda Christian. At the same time, Hartnell moved into the new building, he acquired a week-end retreat, Lovel Dene, a Queen Anne cottage in Windsor Forest, Berkshire. This was extensively re-modelled for him by Lacoste. London life was based in The Tower House, Park Village West Regent's Park, also re-modelled and furnished with a fashionable mixture of Regency and modern furniture.
  In 1935 Hartnell received the momentous first royal commands, inaugurating four decades of his worldwide fame and success in providing clothes for the ladies of the British Royal Family. Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott approached Hartnell to design her dress and those of her bridesmaids for her marriage to Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. Two bridesmaids were Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. Both King George V and Queen Mary approved the designs, the latter also becoming a client. The Duchess of York, then a client of Elizabeth Handley-Seymour, who had made her wedding dress in 1923, accompanied her daughters to the Hartnell salon to view the fittings and met the designer for the first time.
  Although Hartnell's designs for the new Duchess of Gloucester's wedding and her trousseau achieved worldwide publicity, the death of the bride's father and consequent period of mourning led to the cancellation of the large State Wedding at Westminster Abbey. The substitution of a small private ceremony in the chapel of Buckingham Palace prevented the full theatre of a royal occasion and Hartnell regretted that his work on the designs for the magnificent occasion was denied worldwide publicity. Vast crowds did see the newest member of the royal family drive off from Buckingham Palace wearing her going-away Hartnell ensemble and the seal of royal approval led to in increased business for Hartnell.
  For the 1937 Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen ordered the maid of honour dresses from Hartnell, remaining loyal to Handley-Seymour for her Coronation gown. Until 1939 Hartnell received most of the Queen's orders and after 1946, with the exception of some country clothes, she remained a Hartnell client, even after his death. Hartnell's ability in adapting current fashion to a personal royal style began with slimmer fitted designs for day and evening wear. The new Queen was short and her new clothes gave her height and distinction, public day-clothes usually consisted of a long or three-quarter length coat over a slim skirt, often embellished by fur trimmings or some detail around the neck. His designs for the Queen's evening wear varied from unembellished slim dresses, which in the fashion of the day formed a background to the jewellery worn. Some evening wear was embroidered with sequins and glass. There was a complete change of style apparent in designs for the grander evening occasions, when Hartnell re-introduced the crinoline to world fashion, after the King showed Hartnell the Winterhalter portraits in the Royal Collection. King George suggested that the style favoured earlier by Queen Victoria would enhance her presence. It also came to symbolise the continuing values of the established British monarchy worldwide, a
caption: Hartnell at work in his London studio during wartime
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