Lime to reign over us: Queen at 90 turns shoppers on to neon
retailer JD Williams said, it has sold almost one and a half times more bright green pieces, with sales of one dress in a similar shade to the Queen’s birthday outfit up seven-fold. It is believed other shops have also seen sales increases.
The Queen’s other bright costumes also appear to have caused a desire to ditch dull and pastel shades among shoppers, as sales of bright pink garments have more than doubled, with bright orange up by two thirds.
The lime green outfit was created by her most trusted designer, Stewart Parvin, a British dressmaker whom the Royal family approached nine years ago to help make the monarch’s wardrobe more modern.
Within minutes of her official birthday appearance, the choice of colour become a talking point on social media, with the hashtags #neonat90 and #highvishighness sweeping Twitter. Some even worked out the exact Pantone shade she was wearing: 75e41b, the same green used by Apple for the text message iPhone icon. A study by British
magazine in 2012 found that the Queen’s outfits were 29 per cent blue, 13 per cent pink and 11 per cent green. Her personal dresser, Angela Kelly, said the Queen would never wear green if she was due to be photographed against a lawn or woodland. Suzi Burns, a spokesman for JD Williams, said: “The Queen is a great example of fashion without age limits. Wearing neon brights is usually associated with 20-somethings but she has mastered the trend effortlessly. “Our customers are clearly cottoning on and showing that you can wear the latest trends no matter what your age.” It is far from the first time outfits donned by the Royals have driven British women into a shopping frenzy. For example, last year the Duchess of Cambridge sent online shoppers wild after being spotted in an Asos maternity dress while pregnant with Princess Charlotte. The Duchess chose the black polka dot number, teamed with a black clutch bag and matching suede heels, for her visit to Brookhill Children’s Centre in south-east London.
Within 30 minutes of her stepping out of the car in the wrap dress, it had sold out in all sizes on the retailer’s website, being snapped up by people keen on recreating the Cambridge look.
Even the Duchess’s children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, have become renowned for causing garments to fly off shelves after wearing them.
This has led to the Duchess choosing to dress George in a standard uniform of shorts, knee socks and a patterned jumper, and choosing dresses which look similar to each other for Charlotte.
According to experts the traditional, understated clothing is deliberately chosen by the Duchess to avoid creating an inappropriate frenzy around her children’s outfits.