Costume design for Pageant of British Queens, 'Queen Victoria, III'

item details

NameCostume design for Pageant of British Queens, 'Queen Victoria, III'

ProductionMollie Rodie Mackenzie; artist; 1939; Wellington

Classificationdrawings, design drawings, fashion illustrations

Materialspaper, poster colour, ink

Materials Summaryposter paint on paper

Techniquesillustration

DimensionsOverall: 247mm (width), 330mm (height)

Registration NumberGH016509

Credit lineGift of Marion F. Mackenzie (née Rodie), 2009

Overview

This costume sketch was created by Mollie Rodie for the 'Spirit of Empire' pageant held as part of the Wellington Centennial Exhibition, November 1939 - March 1940.

Queen Victoria was part of a pageant which included a parade of British queens, their attendants and ladies-in-waiting. The pageant was so successful that the costumes were reused again for a Red Cross pageant in September 1940, and again for the 'Procession of Queens of Britain' at the Victory Queen Carnival grand finale, Wellington Town Hall, June 1941.

Pageants and queen carnivals were popular ways to raise money during the Second World War (1939-45).

Queen Victoria

Mollie Rodie designed four different costumes for Queen Victoria, from youth to old age. The Evening Post newspaper described the costume made from this sketch 'as an old lady she wore a black silk and lace gown trimmed with black bugles, the black bonnet strings being of wide purple and rose ribbons' (27 November 1939).