The queen as a style icon: solid and bright colors like a Cluedo piece

The Queen was one of the greatest fashion figures the world has ever known. It's a testament to her extraordinary life that 70 years of styling will remain one of her most minor accomplishments.

In her rainbow colors, she flew a flag for dependable, unrelenting joy. glow. Every day, she doubled down on a color, wearing it from head to toe. She wore yellow, red, pink, purple, blue or green. (She's always been a diplomat, so we'll never know which was her favourite. I always thought she looked especially pretty in buttercup yellow, not an easy color to pull off.) A plain, knee-length coat layered over a dress in the same color or coordinating floral pattern, and matched with a hat. Neutral accessories: a purse hanging from her left wrist, gloves and block-heeled shoes. A brooch on his left lapel and a triple row of pearls around his neck.

Une photographie de la reine de mai 1977, prise lors de her Silver Jubilee tour, shows her in a teal coat with covered buttons, with a matching dress and coat. The wide lapels of the coat reveal the pearls at her throat, and her white gloves match her handbag. Another photograph, taken 42 years later during GCHQ's centenary celebrations in February 2019, shows her in nearly identical attire. The coat is a bolder blue, the hat more angular, the gloves and bag now black rather than white, but those are just details. It's basically the same outfit. It hits the same spot at the knee, has the same clean silhouette. This remarkable constancy,