The handbag and shoe designers who received the Queen’s Royal Warrant
QUEEN Elizabeth II leaves a great legacy as well as a vast collection of bags, hats and signature outfits.
During her 70-year reign the queen developed a very distinct style that was always sophisticated no matter the occasion.
While her look was forever classic, she did, however, on the odd occasion, have fun with her outfits, surprising her followers with bright coloured suits and her often outrageous hats.
But no matter how creative she got with her outfits she always kept her bags and shoes simple.
She stuck mostly to black, and you would certainly never see her wearing the high heels Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle wear, or wedges.
“The queen isn’t a fan of wedged shoes,” a source told Vanity Fair. “She really doesn’t like them and it’s well known among the women in the family.”
As a busy working woman, the queen always opted for comfort over style. In fact, the queen wore the same style of shoe for more than 50 years.
Known as her “work shoes” they are made of black leather and feature a buckle on the front with a low heel.
Angela Kelly, the queen’s trusted dresser and close friend revealed the story in her 2019 book: The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe.
In an interview with People, Kelly said: “As has been reported a lot in the press, a flunky wears in Her Majesty’s shoes to ensure that they are comfortable and that she is always good to go, and yes, I am that flunky.”
The queen’s shoes were handmade by London-based company Anello & Davide.
While the company is said to have provided hundreds of pairs to the queen over the years, it is thought that she has 10 pairs on rotation at once.
One of the queen's shoemakers once noted: “We supply one or two pairs a year and occasionally renew the tops and re-heel them. The queen doesn’t waste money.”
Her Majesty's shoes are made from calf leather and moulded from a wooden cast of the queen's foot. Once a shoe is made, it is taken for a final fitting and any adjustments are made.
In 2001 Anello & Davide was awarded a Royal Warrant for Her
Majesty the Queen. A Royal Warrant is a royal stamp of approval. A sign of excellence, quality and patronage.
Launer, a handbag manufacturer, had HRH’S stamp of approval for more than 50 years and had been supplying her with handbags and small leather goods since 1968.
In the same way that the HRH preferred to keep her shoes comfortable, she preferred her bags to be just as simple and practical and more often than not black as well.
While her outfits may have changed ever so slightly over the years, her choice of handbag has remained the same.
Over the past five decades, the queen has worn six different styles from Launer, but it’s the Traviata bag that has become her go-to style.
Handmade in fine calf leather with a soft goat suede lining, the classic style is so closely associated with the queen, that it’s become a constant in her closet. As well as, for obvious reasons, a best-seller for Launer.
“We do various changes; pockets and handles and things for her,” Launer CEO Bodmer told People.
“She has a slightly longer handle on all of them so she can get her hands through it more easily. And she has a bigger pocket at the back too, but it varies. We do always put a coin purse inside for her and there’s a leathercovered mirror in all of our bags.”
While Queen Elizabeth II’S handbags were an iconic fashion statement, according to a number of royal specialists, she also used her handbag as a way to communicate with her staff when she was meeting guests or attending functions.
The queen would signal to her
ladies-in-waiting that she wanted someone to come and interrupt the conversation by switching her bag from one arm to the other, Royal critic Kristen Meinzer said on Newsweek’s The Royal Report podcast.
She would lay her bag completely flat on the ground if she absolutely intended to leave the
situation right away.
As per media reports, the queen would set her bag down on the table if she needed to end a supper in the following five minutes.
Therefore one can understand why she didn’t really need anything too fancy and preferred to keep her handbag simple.