The “recycling” of a previously worn gown is something not new to the British Queen.
Now, the monarch has again surprised many by wearing one such dress decorated with Swarovski crystals to a banquet in Toronto — as a tribute to Canada which she is touring, a media report said.
The dress was originally worn to a state dinner in Trinidad and Tobago in 2009 and had been decorated with the country’s national birds —the scarlet ibis and cocrico. But over the last two weeks it has been transformed by Queen’s dresser and personal assistant Angela Kelly and her team, the online edition of British newspaper the Daily Telegraph reported. The seamstresses removed the images of the birds from the tulle lace that features sea pearls and sequins and stitched dozens of Swarovski crystals on to it. As a tribute to Canada — one of the Queen’s realms — the crystals formed maple leafs both large and small running up the dress’ right sleeve and shoulder.
The interlocking leaves caught light and were designed to be a bold statement at the dinner hosted by the Canadian government in honour of its Queen. The dress was complemented by the sovereign wearing Queen Mary’s dazzling tiara.