Her Majesty the Queen has never yielded to fashion’s whims. As royal designer Sir Norman Hartnell said rather sternly to The New York Times in 1953: “The Queen and the Queen Mother do not want to be fashion setters. That is left to other people with less important work to do.”

女王陛下从未心血来潮追逐潮流。正如皇家设计师诺曼•哈特奈尔（Norman Hartnell）在1953年同纽约时报坚决地说道：“女王和女王的母亲并不想成为时尚的引领者。那是无名之辈做的事情。”

The Queen is, in other words, above fashion. Her signature style originated at the start of her reign, and she has steadfastly refused to deviate – so no regrettable ‘70s prints or ill-judged ‘80s frills and flounces. The Queen’s style is constant and intrinsic to her identity – and although it may look effortless, it subtly sends out all the required messages. It says: unwavering authority, tact and diplomacy, and when the occasion demands it, knock-out, opulent elegance.

换句话来说，女王是凌驾于时尚之上的。她的专属风格从她登位之时形成，至今都未曾改变——因此也就不存在什么令人懊悔的70年代印刷或缺乏考虑的装饰与荷边。女王的风格一直保持着其身份的本质性烙印——尽管看起来毫无特意，但女王的风格却着实微妙地将所有所需信息传播了出去。女王的风格代表着这样一些东西：不可动摇的权威，外交手腕，以及需要时的强势与奢华的优雅。

In her book Luella’s Guide To English Style, Luella Bartley lists some tongue-in-cheek Upper Class Rules of dressing: “Nothing should look new; Impractical fashion victims will catch their death of cold; If you have to try you have lost; Tradition is all that matters; The country is where it’s at.” The Queen’s uniform represents these codes. It’s her look and she’s sticking with it – and it speaks volumes.

在卢埃拉•巴特利（Luella Bartley）的书《英国风格指南》当中，她列举了一些带有开玩笑性质的上层社会的穿衣准则：“不要穿看起来是新的衣服；追求不切实际的时尚只会把你冻死；如果你非要尝试这种时尚，那么你就会迷失自我；传统才是最重要的；国家要容得下才行。”女王的制服代表了这些准则。她的形象一直坚守着这些准则——并且有着崇高的话语权。

The Queen’s sartorial choices frequently set the tone. For the Obamas’ recent visit to Windsor Castle for her 90th birthday, for instance, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were filmed arriving to meet their guests in the grounds of the estate – with the Duke himself at the wheel of the Range Rover. The Queen sported a light blue skirt suit – with her trademark, no-nonsense headscarf, knotted pragmatically under the chin. The understated mood was set – informal, friendly, familiar.

女王御用裁缝的选择往往是定基调的人。例如，奥巴马出席了在温莎城堡举行的女王90大寿庆典，女王和爱丁堡公爵在众人瞩目之下到达，会见各位宾客。公爵一人在路虎揽胜旁等候。女王身穿一件淡蓝色裙装——带着她独一无二的标签，下巴下面结着充满实用意味的头巾。潜在的心情基调已被定下——非正式、友好、熟悉的氛围。

The headscarf says unflashy, weather-proof, countryside, practical - and it has been a royal signature look since the 1940s when a young Princess Elizabeth was photographed with her sister Princess Margaret at a royal horse show, both sporting floral scarves. The look has also been adopted by the likes of Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn, and even taken on as a catwalk look in recent years by designers such as Dolce & Gabbana. In it the Queen is not just the Queen but the traditional, no-nonsense English countrywoman and grandmother, with dogs at her feet and a copy of the Racing Post tucked under her arm. That there is a touch of the ‘Brenda’ (Private Eye’s working-class nickname for the monarch) about the look only adds to its charm.

女王的头巾并不俗丽，适合任何天气，具有乡村风格，而且很实用——自从20世纪40年代当年轻的伊莎贝尔公主和她的姐妹玛格丽特公主在一次皇家马术演出上拍下照片后就成了皇家的形象标志，在那张照片中，伊莎贝尔和玛格丽特都戴着带花的围巾。这一形象也受到杰奎琳•肯尼迪和奥黛丽•赫本的喜爱。最近这些年也被诸如杜嘉班纳的设计品牌所青睐，将其采纳作为走秀的时尚元素。女王不仅仅只是代表她本身，她还代表着整个传统，她是代表着国家的女人，是一位德高望重的祖母。在形象上与Brenda（工人阶层中给女王取的绰号）的接近只会增添自身的魅力。

‘Always appropriate’

“总是得体的”

At Balmoral, the Queen goes even more off-duty in her look. From the 1950s it has remained unchanged – a tweed jacket or knitted twin-set, and a pleated Balmoral-tartan skirt. The tartan, with its granite grey, black and red hues, is personal to the royals and was created by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert after they acquired the Scottish estate. This unchanging attire of the Queen’s sends a subliminal message, not just about her character but about her class – after all, in certain circles, change, newness, trends and ostentation are somehow rather gauche, indicators of a kind of arriviste mentality.

在条纹呢制衬裙方面，女王显得更加随意。从上世纪五十年代开始，女王在这方面就没什么变化——一件花呢外套或者女式两件套毛衣，以及一条起褶格子呢裙。花岗灰、红色与黑色的格子呢对于皇家来说具有个人意义，这是由维多利亚女王和艾伯特王子在获得苏格兰领土后创造的样式。这一永恒不变的女王服饰传达了一个潜在的讯息，不仅仅是有关女王的性格，还有关于其所在的阶层——毕竟，在某些圈子里，改变、新潮、趋势以及卖弄都是一种暴发户心理的笨拙表现。

The subtle code of 'U and Non-U' explored by Nancy Mitford in the 1950s points to the many complex indicators in English society that separate the upper and the non-upper classes. Although most of these codes now feel outdated and snobby, the notion that flashiness is not quite ‘the thing’ persists in aristocratic circles. The pitch-perfect, on-message countryside dress code is a big part of the monarch’s sartorial story.

南希•米特福德（Nancy Mitford）在20世纪50年代探究的有关“上与不上”的微妙准则时，指出了英国社会众多复杂的用以区分上层与下层社会阶级的标志。尽管这些准则中的大多数都已过时并显得势利，但是夺人眼球不可取这一准则仍流行于上层社会圈。完美的并能传达信息的乡村服饰准则在很大程度上只是属于君王裁缝的故事。

“The Queen is always appropriate. What appeals is the Englishness of it, a kind of classic, timeless elegance,” says Caroline de Guitaut, curator of the UK exhibition Fashioning a Reign: 90 Years of Style from the Queen’s Wardrobe. “The exhibition is about memories,” de Guitaut tells BBC Culture. “The outfits shown span the majority of the 20th Century and into the 21st Century, with many of the big occasions that were part of the Queen’s life and our lives.”

“女王总是得体的。其吸引力在于其所展现的英国气质，那是一种古典的、永恒的优雅，”英国“时尚与统治”展览的策展人卡罗琳•德吉托（Caroline de Guitaut）说。这一展览囊括了女王90年生涯中所涉及的服饰风格。“这一展览有关记忆，”德吉托表示，“展出服装的所在时间涵括了20世纪的绝大部分时期一直到21世纪，包括了女王生命中以及我们生命中的很多重大时刻。”