Queen Elizabeth II was without a doubt a style icon during her 70 years on the throne.
Over the years royal fans looked forward to seeing what the Queen would wear to royal engagements.
A dress and matching hat in a vibrant colour became almost a royal uniform that people came to expect.
The fashionable Queen always made a statement, and there was a very particular reason why dressed so boldly.
In Our Queen at Ninety, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh explained: “Don’t forget that when she turns up somewhere, the crowds are two, three, four, ten, 15 deep, and someone wants to be able to say they saw a bit of the Queen’s hat as she went past.
“She needs to stand out for people to be able to say ‘I saw the Queen’.”
For this reason, the monach avoided one rather bland colour. Robert Hardman, author of Queen of Our Times: The Life of Elizabeth II, said: “My favourite remark she ever said was, ‘I can never wear beige because nobody will know who I am’.”
It’s difficult to pinpoint the Queen’s best fashion moment because there were so many, and some looks were truly iconic.
Her Coronation gown, which she wore on June 2, 1953, was a jaw-dropping floor-length white gown commissioned from Normal Hartwell.
She also rocked more casual attire, stepping out with Princess Anne in 1958 wearing a leopard-print scarf for an official visit to Liverpool Street Station – corgi in tow, of course.
The Queen was no stranger to bright, vibrant colours in her lifetime, from hot pink to neon green.
On a visit to Mexico in 1975, HRH was snapped with a group of local children wearing a marigold printed pleated dress and a turban-esque hat.
A woman of many talents, she looked just as fabulous in riding gear as she did in a beautiful dress.
Perhaps her most fabulous look of all was November 1999, when the Queen turned every single head at the Royal Variety Performance wearing a technicolour harlequin gown, which the Court Jeweller describing her dress and jewellery as “shocking”.
Another showstopper was the Queen’s white sequinned gown and fur stole for the State Opening of Parliament in November 2006.
Her boldest look was at Trooping the Colour in 2016, when the Queen wowed in a blinding neon ensemble complete with Stewart Parvin coat and Rachel Trevor-Morgan hat. In 2018, she wore a lime green ensemble with Meghan Markle at the Mersey Gateway Bridge in Widnes.
The last photos of the late Queen were taken on September 2, 2022, when HRH greeted the newly elected Liz Truss at Balmoral. While her look was not as bold or outlandish as many of her others, she looked classic and graceful as ever in a blue blouse, grey cardi and pleated tartan skirt.
