Feathers were everywhere at this year’s Met Gala.
From Nicole Kidman and Anna Wintour to Beyoncé and Sam Smith, and countless others, one of fashion’s oldest adornments once again took centre stage.
A few weeks earlier, while visiting Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, I noticed something surprisingly similar.
Feathers were everywhere there too.
As someone who runs a hair feather extensions business, perhaps I notice feathers more than most.
The exhibition celebrates the remarkable style of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch through clothing worn across all ten decades of her life. Walking through the exhibition felt like travelling through British history, with each outfit telling a story about the occasions, people and moments that shaped the Queen’s reign.
While a white ostrich feather is a staple of the plumed velvet Tudor bonnet worn with Garter regalia at various ceremonial events, feathers also featured during her day-to-day engagements.
Dressing for Diplomacy
The Queen understood the power her clothing could harness as a tool of diplomacy
Colours, fabrics and embellishments were often chosen carefully, helping communicate respect, confidence and continuity without a word being spoken.
What I wasn’t expecting was just how often feathers appeared.
As someone who runs a hair feather business, perhaps I notice them more than most. But once I started looking, they seemed to be everywhere.
The more I walked through the exhibition, the more I realised something.
For all the talk of trends, feathers have never really gone away.
Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation Feathers
Among the royal vestments was, of course, Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation Dress.
And right next to it, one of the most striking pieces in the exhibition was Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation Fan from 1953… full of feathers!
The fan was a reminder that feathers have historically been associated with prestige and ceremony. Ostrich feathers, in particular, have long been used in royal regalia and formal dress because of their dramatic appearance and association with status. Standing beside the Coronation Dress, it was easy to see how every detail of the Queen’s coronation attire had been carefully considered.
Ostrich feathers, tortoiseshell, diamonds
“Following established precedent, the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers presented this fan to Queen Elizabeth Il on the occasion of her coronation. The ostrich feather and tortoiseshell applied with the sovereign’s cipher in diamonds also followed the materials of earlier coronation fans made for queens regnant and consort.”
Presented by the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers, it featured ostrich feathers, tortoiseshell and diamonds. It wasn’t simply decorative. It was part of a long-standing royal tradition, continuing a precedent established for queens before her.
Feather Adornments
Throughout the exhibition, feathers appeared in many forms – from ceremonial ostrich feathers and elaborate eveningwear embellishments to feather-inspired millinery details such as this.
Queen Elizabeth II wore this green crepe cloche hat to the unveiling of the Queen Caroline Memorial Stone in Hyde Park in January 1990. She wore it with a matching green outfit and brooch made of diamonds and emeralds.
Although not made from a real feather, the decorative plume on this hat shows how feather imagery remained a recurring element in royal fashion. It was a reminder that feathers have long been associated with elegance, status and occasion dressing, decades before they appeared on modern red carpets and today’s hair feather trends.
The Queen Takes Flight
For many visitors, the 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony display was one of the highlights of the exhibition.
The display included both the Queen’s outfit and the duplicate created for her stunt double, who appeared to parachute into the stadium during the now iconic James Bond sequence with Daniel Craig.
Designed by Angela Kelly and paired with a headpiece by milliner Frederick Fox, the outfits incorporated feathers alongside lace, crystals and intricate embellishments – in a soft blush pink colour, which feels both regal and surprisingly playful. It demonstrated how feathers continued to appear in royal fashion even in the Queen’s later years, not as relics of the past but as contemporary design elements.
Why people still like feathers
When many people think of hair feathers, they immediately think of music festivals or fashion trends from the early 2010s.
Yet my own customers tell a different story.
One of my customers recently described her hair feathers as her “statement against old age”.
I loved that.
They brighten her day every time she catches sight of them in the mirror.
Others wear them because they love colour but don’t want to dye their hair.
What all these reasons have in common is self-expression.
The Queen understood that clothing could communicate something about who you are without saying a word. The same principle applies whether you’re wearing a state gown, a hat adorned with feathers, or a few colourful feather extensions in your hair.
Feathers continue to soar…
Walking through the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, I realised that feathers have survived every shift in fashion because they do something few accessories can. They catch the eye, create movement and help people express themselves.
Whether they’re worn by a Queen at her Coronation, a celebrity on the Met Gala red carpet or someone adding a splash of colour to their hair, the appeal remains remarkably similar.
Fashion changes.
