Beaton struck up an instant rapport with the Queen. His diary reveals that she was an active participant in the staging of her romantic portraits, suggesting suitable dresses and accessories. Here, Beaton combined a painterly eye with the elegant style of his Vogue fashion studies. Like those, each royal portrait would be carefully retouched under Beaton’s instruction, to define facial features and trim silhouettes.
From the Queen Elizabeth II by Cecil Beaton exhibition at Victoria and Albert Museum [ 8 February – 22 April 2012]
Image and text from Oh! so 30s
Retrorambling 