Dr. Kate Strasdin’s Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A Dress History of Queen Alexandra

Hi all! I know that I’ve been talking about this book since October 2018, and I’ve finally finished it and had time to process. Kate Strasdin is one of the leading figures in royal fashion history, and she makes it very clear that it is not simply a party subject for fun. Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A Dress History of Queen Alexandra can tell us much about Queen Alexandra, but also about nineteenth century fashion production and styling, as well as the royal family (and aristocracy as a whole).

Inside the Royal Wardrobe was one of my splurges on my trip. To order a physical copy here in Canada, I was looking at $80 CAD plus taxes and shipping (over $100). However, when I was at the Fashion Museum in Bath, it was only £20 and I knew it was a sign. (I know that academic monographs are at a higher price point because of the niche focus and all of the work that goes into it, but that is quite a discrepancy. Publishers, sort it out!) So, I bought my very own copy and waited until I was home and could focus to dive in.

I am actually quite happy in hindsight that I waited to read Inside the Royal Wardrobe. Reading it after seeing the Royal  Women Exhibition at the Fashion Museum meant that I was able to re-examine what I saw with new knowledge. (I think that reading it before would also be helpful, but I liked having two lenses to view it through.) Dr. Strasdin played a large role in the exhibition’s curation, and when you start reading, you realise just how passionate she is. It makes for an incredible enjoyable and engaging read, and has made it one of my favourite historical studies to date.

Inside the Royal Wardrobe: The Details

From Bloomsbury Press:

Queen Alexandra used clothes to fashion images of herself as a wife, a mother and a royal: a woman who both led Britain alongside her husband Edward VII and lived her life through fashion. Inside the Royal Wardrobe overturns the popular portrait of a vapid and neglected queen, examining the surviving garments of Alexandra, Princess of Wales – who later became Queen Consort – to unlock a rich tapestry of royal dress and society in the second half of the 19th century.

More than 130 extraordinary garments from Alexandra’s wardrobe survive, from sumptuous court dress and politicised fancy dress to mourning attire and elegant coronation gowns, and can be found in various collections around the world, from London, Oslo and Denmark to New York, Toronto and Tokyo. Curator and fashion scholar Kate Strasdin places these garments at the heart of this in-depth study, examining their relationships to issues such as body politics, power, celebrity, social identity and performance, and interpreting Alexandra’s world from the objects out.

Adopting an object-based methodology, the book features a range of original sources from letters, travel journals and newspaper editorials, to wardrobe accounts, memoirs, tailors’ ledgers and business records. Revealing a shrewd and socially aware woman attuned to the popular power of royal dress, the work will appeal to students and scholars of costume, fashion and dress history, as well as of material culture and 19th century history.

Published: May 2017 (Bloomsbury Academic)

Pages: 192

Inside the Royal Wardrobe: The Review

Onto the good stuff now! Strasdin covers Alexandra’s fashion life from the beginning of her engagement in 1862 to her death in 1925. And in addition to covering the periods of her adult life, it also looks at different styles of dress. Mourning dress, fancy dress (costumes), and travelling clothes all get their fair share of attention, too. Historians tend to take one approach or the other, and the mixture of the two certainly made for a more interesting read. Alexandra often gets categorised as a long-suffering wife, and people don’t look further. However, she was a well-rounded and fascinating woman, and her wardrobe was the same.

I have to admit, I was truly fascinated by the sources. Obviously Strasdin was able to study Alexandra’s garments in person at the Fashion Museum, as well as in other textile collections. Although many of Alexandra’s pieces have long since disappeared (due to being given away, recycled into another piece, or in a private collection), enough survive to give us an in-depth picture. And it’s not only the garments themselves, there are also textual sources (my historical jam). Strasdin uses postcards and pictures, bills of sale and ledgers, newspaper articles and diary entries. I think this study is a perfect example of why historians of all stripes need to use varied sources. The garments themselves don’t give the whole story, neither do the texts that document their lives. I also very much appreciate that she included some of her own personal sources that she has collected.

Being that I am relatively new to fashion history, I was slightly concerned that I would feel lost. However, Strasdin is a rare academic- she doesn’t simplify her argument at all, but ensures that all of her readers will be able to follow it. Any specific fashion terms are fully explained, as are their importance. (You can explain the meaning of something, but a lot of historians won’t actually tell you why you should care.) She also explains Alexandra’s history well, which isn’t an easy feat given how complicated the Victorian royal family was. I learned a lot from this book, not just about Alexandra and royal dressing, but about fashion history as a whole. Like any good historian, I’ve now got myself a list of homework that I need to do!

Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A Dress History of Princess Alexandra is an easy to read, engaging, and fascinating historical study of Queen Alexandra, the royal wardrobe, and nineteenth century fashion. It is the perfect book for anyone wanting to learn more, or just dive into another period. 

Will you be reading Inside the Royal Wardrobe? And if you have, what did you think? 

Cheers,
The Historian
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