Life and Career

He opened his have business around 1923 and became known for his elaborate and in an elaborate way adorned gowns. Hartnell designed a dresses worn by Queen Elizabeth II on her marriage to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in 1947, and her coronation in 1953. He likewise designed dresses for Elizabeth, The Queen Mother and Queen Mary.

A dress designed for the Queen's wedding contained 10,000 seed pearls and many hundreds to thousands of whiten crystal beads. For its display within 2003 for A anniversary of the enthronisation of Her Stateliness The Queen, Ten preserver worked thereon. In the embroidery, various symbols for different countries of the Commonwealth can be seen, such as a Scottish thistle, Australian wattle, the maple leaf of Canada and the pearly-white lotus flower for India.

Hartnell too designed Queen Elizabeth a Queen Mother's far-famed "White Wardrobe" for her 1938 State Visit to France by owning her hubby King George VI. On the demise of Queen Elizabeth's mother, a Countess of Strathmore, Hartnell remade a Queen's entire wardrobe around white, resurrecting a ancient French usage of white when royal mourning.

Hartnell never married, & instead moved inside theatrical circles, counting noted lensman Cecil Beaton and socialite Bunny Roger as close friends. His autobiography, released inside 1955, was entitled Silver and Gold.

In 11 May 2005, Hartnell was commemorated with an English Heritage Blue Plaque at 26 Bruton Street, London W1, where he lived & worked from either 1935 to 1979.