The strapless evening gown was a fashionable style which The Queen wore regularly throughout the 1940s and 1950s with official photographic portraits of The Queen from the period often featuring this style. The apparent simplicity of the dress is both typical of the restrained and timeless elegance of Hardy Amies’ couture and also belies the complexity of the dress’s construction. The plain straight front of the bodice conceals an inner shaped bodice, while the skirt is pleated at the sides with a single triangular panel of fabric forming the whole of the front of the skirt joined by a centre seam.