A conversation with Bruce Oldfield, the British fashion designer behind Queen Camilla’s coronation gown.
Oldfield was born in London to a Jamaican father and a half-Irish mother, and put in the care of Barnardo’s, now the largest children’s charity in the U.K. He was in foster care through age 13 in the northeast of England, raised by Violet Masters, a seamstress who introduced him to the world of tailoring. He went on to graduate from Central St. Martins School of Art, moving then to New York to work for Henri Bendel.
Oldfield’s first design for her came in 2013, a long, pale blue gown she wore to the investiture of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. The dress features a two-layer skirt, with the more voluminous outer layer coming from underneath the bust. “I always like to have fluidity in the garment. You rarely see a straight column from me,” he says. He prefers a “flick at the hem” for the movement it gives a garment, even if the wearer is standing still.
“I wanted the embroidery to be all over, but loose, like a drawing,” he says. Strings of wildflowers that seem to cascade down from the shoulders were inspired by Charles and Camilla’s joint love of the countryside. The blooms were intertwined with delicate bunting, a staple of U.K. celebrations.
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